340s and valley trays

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Richie

Richie

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Hi everybody:

I'm not too educated about 340s and valley trays weather they have them or not. Are they really that important? Mine is a 70 340 waiting to be rebuilt but isn't here right now and I've seen 318s being taken about without any valley tray so you can see why I'm curious. Thanks.
 
A "valley tray" is an aftermarket part that clips into the lifter valley area under the intake.
It covers the cam area and has holes for the pushrods to go through. It helps keep hot oil off of the bottom of the intake.

If you are talking about "windage trays" which are mounted on the main cap bolts under the crank, then all 340 had them as well as some of the high performance 360 that came after the 340 was discontinued. To my knowledge, no 318's or lower performance 360's had them. But I am wondering about the 318 4 bbl cop car engines in the later '70's and possibly early '80's.

Personally, for mild performance use, they are "ok", but need the "window louvers" opened up a bit to help the oil escape. For race use, I prefer crank scrapers, or there are some aftermarket windage trays that may be a bit better OEM.
 
They are not aftermarket in a LOT of engines. The Chrysler big block, Ford Cleveland series and Early Chrysler Hemis are but three examples where they were used stock. Although no small block Chrysler came with one, they are a good addition.
 
Windage tray

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Valley tray

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RustyRatRod said:
They are not aftermarket in a LOT of engines. The Chrysler big block, Ford Cleveland series and Early Chrysler Hemis are but three examples where they were used stock. Although no small block Chrysler came with one, they are a good addition.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification. Like in the BB Mopar, an OEM valley tray is needed to keep the oil "IN" in the engine as a matter of design. Keeping oil off of the bottom of those intakes is an OEM design benefit.
 
Locomotion said:
Thanks for the clarification. Like in the BB Mopar, an OEM valley tray is needed to keep the oil "IN" in the engine as a matter of design. Keeping oil off of the bottom of those intakes is an OEM design benefit.
Click to expand...

It's always made me wonder......have you ever seen dyno results with and without a valley tray? I wonder if it's worth anything in terms of power. Either way, I still think they are a good idea.
 
The RPM Airgap, Crosswind, etc., makes this a non-issue unless You're planning on a bone stock intake................in which case it's more important to worry about just
blocking off the exhaust heat crossovers. Olds, Ponchos, are among others that use an integral intake gasket/tray configuration...
Keeping the oil "in" means exactly what? Guiding it to the return troughs in the valley so it makes it back sooner is the premise, but how much is actually deflected
back onto the lobes & lifters to get thrown around & beat-up again, I've not seen anything conclusive to prove they accomplish a thing. Some engines may benefit
more than others, Mopars' tunnels are wide open compared to brand "X"'s, I could think of positives & negatives relating to that.
 
Keeping the oil "IN" was in reference to engines that have an OEM valley tray as part of their design, which is a necessity to keep if from literally splashing out. The OP small block inquiry has to use an added, aftermarket valley tray in most cases to gain the potential benefit of keeping the hot oil off of the bottom of the intake.

While I've never experimented looking for the benefits of a valley tray, I will say that I don't see any negatives in keeping hot oil off of the intake, aside from the mechanical aspects of fitting it and proper pushrod clearances. It has to help in HP potential, even if it may be small.

As for drainage, the optimum goal is to cautiously limit the amount of oil getting up there to begin with and directing it to the front & rear of the engine to avoid dripping on the rotating assembly. I don't think the valley tray would affect the volume either way. Some class rules limit what can be done.
 
If you loose a push rod a valley tray will also keep the lifter from coming all the way out.
 
Did you know that Weiand made a big block intake that eliminated the valley pan? I think one or two others did, too. Pretty funky lookin.


Locomotion said:
Keeping the oil "IN" was in reference to engines that have an OEM valley tray as part of their design, which is a necessity to keep if from literally splashing out. The OP small block inquiry has to use an added, aftermarket valley tray in most cases to gain the potential benefit of keeping the hot oil off of the bottom of the intake.

While I've never experimented looking for the benefits of a valley tray, I will say that I don't see any negatives in keeping hot oil off of the intake, aside from the mechanical aspects of fitting it and proper pushrod clearances. It has to help in HP potential, even if it may be small.

As for drainage, the optimum goal is to cautiously limit the amount of oil getting up there to begin with and directing it to the front & rear of the engine to avoid dripping on the rotating assembly. I don't think the valley tray would affect the volume either way. Some class rules limit what can be done.
Click to expand...
 
Yes, All 318 and 360 cop car 4 bbl engines got the windage tray. Chrysler even slotted the holes and superceded them both to one part number after awhile.

Locomotion said:
But I am wondering about the 318 4 bbl cop car engines in the later '70's and possibly early '80's.
Click to expand...
 
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