RPM and stock 360 pan
Hello all, would just like put to rest where the "myth" but factory known reality of where the "sucking a pan dry" word derived from plus just a bit of personal experience on the OP subject since I just pulled my 7200rpm street/strip 408 out for a check over and HP gain detail. This probably is just for the 1%. Growing up all my dad's friends and himself had Hemi cars(they all tend to know each other) so it was just more common knowledge between them. That being said the 426 Hemi which has the worse oil drain back(two 3/8 holes per head going down in a passage through block) was all they had. In 66/67 the Hemi had just a 5 qt pan which is when Chrysler realised the issue so went to a 6qt pan for 68-71. With a 1/2 oil pump pickup,the steep angle of the heads and small about 3/8 oil returns the heads would fill with oil fighting against a large oil pump pickup and just gravity draining through a straw for almost 2 feet back to the pan could suck the pan dry. My dad actually was able to get his second Hemi car because of this problem. 67 car was all done and the owner at that time was racing on the highway with 3.91's against a Corvette when oil pressure dropped to zero. Luckily he noticed so shut it off before completely blowing it up. I'm sure many have seen 66 block over the years with a big window out the side. With how beefy the Hemi bottom end was we can assume many were from the rod seizing on the crank. After my dad pulled the engine out luckily it had just spun a rod bearing but everything else of the engine was in spec.
Now to my experience on the OP subject my car is fairly low and after taking out two Big block pans in the car (years previously) I decided to stay with a stock depth small block pan. I hadn't planned on it spinning 6700 through the lights or making peak hp at 6400rpm so just kept a eye on oil pressure. Anyways 4 years on the stock pan with the 7000rpm(limiter set at) 360 in it previously and another 4 on the 7200rpm(limiter set) 408 in it now and the bearings are all still like new and were also when the 360 came out. I am planning on doing baffles and a scraper now and maybe going to the Kevco 6qt pan to be safe since it will get some more HP. I will add a skid plate either way since I did have scrap marks on the pan.
Here are some picks of the Hemi oil drains in the head and the angle of the heads
Hello all, would just like put to rest where the "myth" but factory known reality of where the "sucking a pan dry" word derived from plus just a bit of personal experience on the OP subject since I just pulled my 7200rpm street/strip 408 out for a check over and HP gain detail. This probably is just for the 1%. Growing up all my dad's friends and himself had Hemi cars(they all tend to know each other) so it was just more common knowledge between them. That being said the 426 Hemi which has the worse oil drain back(two 3/8 holes per head going down in a passage through block) was all they had. In 66/67 the Hemi had just a 5 qt pan which is when Chrysler realised the issue so went to a 6qt pan for 68-71. With a 1/2 oil pump pickup,the steep angle of the heads and small about 3/8 oil returns the heads would fill with oil fighting against a large oil pump pickup and just gravity draining through a straw for almost 2 feet back to the pan could suck the pan dry. My dad actually was able to get his second Hemi car because of this problem. 67 car was all done and the owner at that time was racing on the highway with 3.91's against a Corvette when oil pressure dropped to zero. Luckily he noticed so shut it off before completely blowing it up. I'm sure many have seen 66 block over the years with a big window out the side. With how beefy the Hemi bottom end was we can assume many were from the rod seizing on the crank. After my dad pulled the engine out luckily it had just spun a rod bearing but everything else of the engine was in spec.
Now to my experience on the OP subject my car is fairly low and after taking out two Big block pans in the car (years previously) I decided to stay with a stock depth small block pan. I hadn't planned on it spinning 6700 through the lights or making peak hp at 6400rpm so just kept a eye on oil pressure. Anyways 4 years on the stock pan with the 7000rpm(limiter set at) 360 in it previously and another 4 on the 7200rpm(limiter set) 408 in it now and the bearings are all still like new and were also when the 360 came out. I am planning on doing baffles and a scraper now and maybe going to the Kevco 6qt pan to be safe since it will get some more HP. I will add a skid plate either way since I did have scrap marks on the pan.
Here are some picks of the Hemi oil drains in the head and the angle of the heads
