I was changing out the black factory oil pan baffle cause the one in my motor was broke.
I noticed that the full mark on the dip stick tube was about an inch or so above the baffle.
Does the baffle displace oil in the pan? If the baffle is air tight and displaces oil, would adding a few holes on the underside of the baffle allow the pan to hold more oil?
I got to thinking about what was behind the 8 screws holding the cover on.
Well, its hollow inside.
The next step was to see if it was air tight. I filled a container with water and submerged it. It's not, it leaks slowly at the 4 corners and also at the factory hole in the underside.
If the water got in would a thicker oil get in too? I filled my oil pan with water to the full mark on the dipstick, inserted the baffle and the water level raised and then slowly went down a little. Water had gotten inside the baffle and equalized with the level in the pan.. I quickly drained the oil pan and the water inside the baffle took well over a minute to drain back out. How fast would a thicker oil drain?
Where do you think the level of oil in the pan is when running the car? How far does it drop when racing? If you run your oil level right at the full mark that's 5 3/4 qt of oil in the pan and 3 oz of oil in the baffle. I run mine just a little over, at 6 qts. and that's 5 oz of oil in the baffle. I checked measurements several times. The more overfull you run the oil, the more oil that's in the baffle, the longer it takes to drain out.
What do you think about drilling a few big holes on the bottom of the baffle and a small one on the top?? The oil in the baffle will drain faster thereby giving you more oil in the pan where you need it and not in the baffle where you don't. Of coarse it's all dependent on how far the level of oil is below the baffle and for how long. If the oil level in the pan stays below the baffle, any oil in the baffle will drain out in a few minutes. It's a small amount but the 5oz of oil in the bottom of the pan could make the difference between sucking air or not.
Thoughts / discussion???
