Windage Tray question

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straightlinespeed

straightlinespeed

Sometimes I pretend to be normal
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I installed a windage tray on my LA 360. Got the bottom all button up and flipped the engine over. I installed the dip stick tube and slid the dip stick in. I could hear it rub against the windage tray. I tried a couple of different times and same thing.

It looked like it would clear from the bottom, but now Im second guessing it. Im just not sure if this is a issue or not. Do any of you think this will be a problem?
 
Pretty sure mine does this for some reason (after market dipstick likely the culprit) This is on my 340 and at least for me there's never been a problem.
 
Do you still have the pan off?
 
As long as your sure it's rubbing against the windage tray, not the crank you'll be ok. I'd spin the engine over to make sure the crank isn't hitting it. Come to think of it my old 360 had a similar issue where when the dipstick was straight it wouldn't go in. I put a real slight bend in it and it went in fine as long as you always installed it with the bend in the right direction. Put over 12,000 miles on it with no problem
 
I had to drill a hole,or a notch,(can't remember which) in the tray to let the dipstick pass through, cuz I wanted to run 5 qts in the 7qt pan, and I wanted an accurate stick.I ran a couple of 340s low, and they spun the front rodbearings So I didn't want a repeat.
There is a thread here where the crank caught the stick and tore the end to shreds.
 
midnight340 said:
Pretty sure mine does this for some reason (after market dipstick likely the culprit) This is on my 340 and at least for me there's never been a problem.
Click to expand...

Factory dipstick on mine

RustyRatRod said:
Do you still have the pan off?
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Nope, I jumped the gun on that one.

fishy68 said:
As long as your sure it's rubbing against the windage tray, not the crank you'll be ok. I'd spin the engine over to make sure the crank isn't hitting it. Come to think of it my old 360 had a similar issue where when the dipstick was straight it wouldn't go in. I put a real slight bend in it and it went in fine as long as you always installed it with the bend in the right direction. Put over 12,000 miles on it with no problem
Click to expand...

I did turn the engine over a few times with the dipstick in place and I didnt hear any noise. I only hear it when installing or removing it. Now what I dont know is if it is actually going into the oil pan or curving around the tray.. :wack:

AJ/FormS said:
I had to drill a hole in the tray to let the dipstick pass through, cuz I wanted to run 5 qts in the 7qt pan, and I wanted an accurate stick.
There is a thread here where the crank caught the stick and tore the end to shreds.
Click to expand...

Yep, I remember that thread. That is why I posted this question. Like I mentioned if its suggested I remove the oil pan I will do so for piece of mind.
 
There is only one way to know unfortunately..... unless you can snake some sort of camera thingie in there. Or you could guess and put a bit of a tweak near the end as fishy68 said. Glad to hear things are coming along!
 
IIRC,on my Milodon set up, it was possible to get by the tray, by curving the last inch and a half of the stick to about 15/20 degrees. But that made stick-indexing mandatory;and I wanted to stay away from that. So if the pan was on and the engine was in, I suppose I might have gone that way. But mine was still on the stand.
 
nm9stheham said:
There is only one way to know unfortunately..... unless you can snake some sort of camera thingie in there. Or you could guess and put a bit of a tweak near the end as fishy68 said. Glad to hear things are coming along!
Click to expand...

Awfully small hole to see in, but Im pretty sure I know what I have to do.
AJ/FormS said:
IIRC,on my Milodon set up, it was possible to get by the tray, by curving the last inch and a half of the stick to about 15/20 degrees. But that made stick-indexing mandatory;and I wanted to stay away from that. So if the pan was on and the engine was in, I suppose I might have gone that way. But mine was still on the stand.
Click to expand...

The nice thing is mine is still on the stand... Which makes it so much easier.
 
Take the pan back off and fix it.
 
put the correct amount of oil in the pan and see what the stick say. rubbing the tray-no big deal. rubbing crank-U say it is not-no problemo
 
I keep forgetting it's the 360 the one piece pan gasket is available for and not the 318.
 
I see you are using the one piece gasket. Does the front timing cover of your oil pan have the 1+" long notches on both sides of the front timing cover relief near the pan rail? If so, you will need to run the 4 piece gasket set on this motor. I used the Cometic pan gaskets. They were very nice and high quality. I also added some Permatex Ultra Seal in the 4 corners where the gaskets come together. The flaps that can be seen in your photos on the one-piece gasket at this location hide the gap that using the wrong gasket leaves once everything is bolted up making it dificult to see where the oil is leaking out from. The stock Magnum pans don't have those reliefs, but all 360 LA pans do including Milidon pans.

Learned this the hard way. #-o
 
jbc426 said:
I see you are using the one piece gasket. Does the front timing cover of your oil pan have the 1+" long notches on both sides of the front timing cover relief near the pan rail? If so, you will need to run the 4 piece gasket set on this motor. I used the Cometic pan gaskets. They were very nice and high quality. I also added some Permatex Ultra Seal in the 4 corners where the gaskets come together. The flaps that can be seen in your photos on the one-piece gasket at this location hide the gap that using the wrong gasket leaves once everything is bolted up making it dificult to see where the oil is leaking out from. The stock Magnum pans don't have those reliefs, but all 360 LA pans do including Milidon pans.

Learned this the hard way. #-o
Click to expand...

Your talking about the circled parts of this pan right?? (Not my pan, just making sure we are on the same page.

View attachment GeezzerPan01.jpg
 
straightlinespeed said:
Your talking about the circled parts of this pan right?? (Not my pan, just making sure we are on the same page.

View attachment 1714877723
Click to expand...

Exactly! The one piece pan gasket, while nice, will leak at those pan reliefs. They are also hidden by the design of the one-piece gasket's flaps in that same spot. It makes for a significant oil leak, especially under full throttle, due to increased crakcase pressures.

The 4 piece LA style gaskets must be used with this combination, 360 (correction = both LA) & Magnum front timing cover & LA style oil pan.
 
straightlinespeed said:
Ok, Im running a LA engine, LA timing cover and LA oil pan. I only have Magnum heads
Click to expand...

I may have given mis-information in my last post. I believe the LA timing cover is the same as the magnum timing cover regarding the areas at the pan reliefs.

I'm pretty sure that you won't be able to use the one piece gasket with your combo, as only the LA 4-piece gasket set has the added material to seal/fill the pan reliefs that you've shown in the picture of that LA pan.

it's easy to check. Just assemble your pan and gasket to the block, and then lift up the flaps on the one-piece gasket. You will have a significant gap at both pan reliefs that a pencil will almost fit through.

I have a picture somewhere. I'll look for it and post it here. (found it)

You can see the added material to plug that gap in the pan rail on the 4-piece gasket. That material is not there on the one piece gasket, but those flaps hide that.
 

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well I'll be a skunned skunk.. NOW I see why I had all that trouble with mine.. all that dang $$ I spent on that one piece gasket... damn. - - wait, that's wrong - I retract my statement - I am using the Milodon Street and Strip Oil Pan 30940 which does not have to 1" notches..
 
ScampMike said:
well I'll be a skunned skunk.. NOW I see why I had all that trouble with mine.. all that dang $$ I spent on that one piece gasket... damn.
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I hear that! The devil is in the details. It's a subtle, but brutal oversight.

Fortunately, I was able to change the pan gasket with the motor in the car. I had to lift my motor up with my cherry picker, and it was not fun.
 
AJ/FormS said:
I had to drill a hole,or a notch,(can't remember which) in the tray to let the dipstick pass through, cuz I wanted to run 5 qts in the 7qt pan, and I wanted an accurate stick.I ran a couple of 340s low, and they spun the front rodbearings So I didn't want a repeat.
There is a thread here where the crank caught the stick and tore the end to shreds.
Click to expand...
that was me, I think I named the thread - "my hungry stroker" or something like that because it had eaten my dipstick !
View attachment 20150523_180917.jpg
 
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