It's been long debated if this is harmful or not. It's a "trick" done when drag racing so the oil pickup does not become uncovered on hard launches. Some folks on the other forum were concerned adding an additional QT (6qts Vs the standard 5qts) Would cause crank windage issues. Also the turbo oil drain level was a concern. I ran my car this way all last year and had no problems I was aware of.

Here is what I found.


Used a graduated cylinder to be as exact as possible.


With the pan sitting on the floor its a bit nose up. the level would be slightly lower assuming it set level installed.


This is 5 qts.


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Here is 6 qts.


It barely cleared my first drain. (using the larger drain up front now.) But if you add the oil filter capacity and the engine oil passage capacity I still think 6qts would more than clear my first drain with the engine running and be clear of the crank/windage tray.


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Couldn't you cut the pan and make it deeper? Or is ground clearance an issue?

 

If you have room, sure. But my point was there is no issue. With the oil filter capacity and the engine running the level will be 2qts or so lower than in the picture. Few guys running 6.5-7qts without issue.

 

Thanks Force good info to know you ran it this way all last year with no problems, will be adding an extra quart. Had heard of others loosing oil pressure on the launch and this was also there fix for this problem, also I think they made a baffle in the rear to keep the oil from climbing the rear of the pan.

 

There is an OEM baffle the pickup sits down in. I just had it removed to clean it. Actually threw it in the dishwasher when the wife wasn’t looking. Worked great!

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i know this is an old thread but i came across something related recently and thought it would be worth an addition here... lots of info on oiling and whats in the pan vs what in the motor while its running...

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=1280

 

Just to add this… If you look at my first turbo drain hole (lowest of the two in the pic). I blocked this with an AN fitting and cap and moved to my larger drain in the pic.

With the car jacked and level I started the engine with 6qts in the system. I then pulled the lower turbo drain cap. With the engine running and added oil until oil started come out the turbo drain.

I was able to add 2 full qts before oil started to trickle out the lower drain. That’s 8qts total in the system.

 

yea so that about in line with the link i posted above, something like two quarts is running around in the motor while its running... let me ask you, tho, where is your windage tray in relation to that hole?

 

Directly above it. The windage tray on the LS engines are bolted to the main cap area. Above the level of the pan'¦

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right on i was just curious because some of the guys that are stroked out may have to take that into consideration with the added hangdown of the crank and windage tray in their applcations

 

For what it's worth, I ran roughly 1-1.5 quarts additional for about 30k street/strip miles and never had a single issue.

I would generally check it while idling and continue adding until right at/above fill line if I remember correctly.