Question for the FE know it alls

[aviaid]

David, I am sure your driving is fine.

I agree on the need for a dry sump system in most cars. Relative to a good quality wet sump system they are complex, expensive, intrusive and certainly heavier. And the horsepower benefits tend to be over-rated.

The FE is a remarkably frugal engine when it comes to oil usage. Even an aluminum engine should only run 8-9 GPM at temperature. The key in a wet sump is sufficient oil in the sump. The proper amount of oil in the system is not an arbitrary number that fills the pan to the underside of the hard tray, but that is not a bad place to start. The right amount is that which maintains oil pressure, but does not induce the carryover of oil out the breather system. This will tend to be more than the rated pan capacity, maybe 1 or 1.5 qts more. As the engine runs oil circulates through the engine in a continuous flow. The harder the engine is run, the more oil in circulation in the engine. This reduces the amount in the sump. The cylinder heads and the valley tend to pool the most oil, so if drainbacks are limited or restricted, this can have an impact on the efficiency of oil return. Just be glad it's not a Chrysler Hemi.

So overfilling the pan a little for track events raises the effective level in the sump during track time. The key is 'a little'. Baffled vents and proper location of breather outlets is the difference between being able to tell oil in suspension in the engine due to the reciprocating assembly contacting the oil in the sump and splash from lifters, rocker arms and pushrods. And a firewall mounted breather can taking air out from the lifter valley with a drain back to the 5/8" tube in the right front corner of the pan is a good way to insure you don't 'lose' the oil that does come out of the engine.

The most severe test is typically during sustained high rpm operation. Crankcase pressure tends to keep oil from returning to the sump as efficiently as during normal operation. But even short periods of off-throttle breathing of the engine as on most road courses returns oil to the sump very quickly.