Bryan, if your gonna run a GOOD pump, like a Dailey you mentioned, then I'd personally put the tank in the rear of the car. It absolutely does not have to go in the front, as long as you have a nice oil pump involved. And it will move weight to the rear of the car at the same time. Doesn't have to be in the trunk either...there's room under the car. Far more room than what you have under your hood, ESPECIALLY if your going to go custom built through Stefs.
I'm also not sure that restricted push rods is your answer to this, along with a dry sump. Are you running a high volume oil pump? If so, that could be the issue. I'd bet you didn't drill holes in the lifter trays, for oil return either. The holes help keep the oil out of the area under the valve covers.
The dry sump will solve your oiling problems, if the entire oil distribution AND oil return process is done correctly.

This is the reason I suggested a different engine builder.... There are so many great LS motors out running HARD on the track and not having the issues Bryan is/has had.

Bryan, sweet build, long read! Pg 19 had me drooling over the BBQ pics.
I used to have a Lucerne blue 72 T/A and this thread made me miss that car IIRC it ended up in Austin. I'll look for you at the next Goodguys I like the auto-X events what fun are the cars if we cant drive them hard? There is a builder up in Dallas are named Watt, I haven't used him but a buddy has if you haven't found anyone yet, carry on!

I'd love to see a picture of the firewall without the tank in place. That 2.5G tank is 24" tall. The mockup I made was the 2G tank, and it's 19.5" tall. There's no way I could put that height in that spot. As I type this, it's possible that may be a 7" diameter tank instead of the 6" I'm considering, but that wouldn't work either for me... :(

Their downbar is also further out than mine, giving more room between the bar and the engine/header.

Sure looks nice though. ;)

You're not the first person to ask me this... ;)

From the people I have spoken to, this doesn't work. You want the oil to have time in the tank to remove the air (via the baffling in the tanks), and a smaller tank allows less time to do that. I also can only run a single pressure stage, I'm not sure how / if I could even plumb 2 tanks.

Hi Scott,

I considered the rear mounted tank. That would be a LONG run for hoses, and it would have to be in the trunk on my car. There just isn't any room under the car for anything else. I don't want to give up my trunk space for a 3-4G tank! This isn't a full-on racecar like Flash's BMF. ;)

This engine is a solid roller, and I use a set of link-bar lifters, so there are no trays to catch the oil. The original engine did have them (they were drilled). Pushrods definitely aren't the total solution, but not having restrictions does push more oil to the valve covers. :\

I'm going to talk with the builder to see if there is anything we could do to improve the drainback from the heads. I don't really want to run external lines for that, but maybe we can open up some passages, or at least smooth them a little if they are rough. I need to look through some of the old pictures of these heads before I installed them...

Oh, and I'm running a Melling 10295, the standard volume / high pressure pump.

I'm more and more convinced that I should have been just fine with my current combination. As you say, there are plenty of C5 and C6 Vettes on the track which don't run a fancy oiling system, pull more G's than I do, and don't have these problems. Granted, COTA is a hard track on a car, a lot of high RPM 3rd gear time when I was there. Still, my combination shouldn't have had a problem...

I'm VERY curious what we're going to find when it is pulled apart...

:thumbsup: I'm usually there (this past one being the exception) as are several others of us from the forum. Definitely stop by and say Hello in the Fall!

Bryan, carefully examine that oil pump, when you do the tear down. Those have been known to have the relief valve/plunger stick open. Not trying to start an oil pump war, just saying that it's happened before. I'm doing a 5.3 build right now for my nephew, and went with the Melling 295, and I checked it inside and out before installation. Hopefully you'll get your engine woes straightened out on the next one...that has to be getting VERY expensive.

Good suggestion. I'll have the builder pull it apart and take a look. I'm looking at one of the Schumann pumps as a possible wet-sump alternative. The plunger is replaced with a stainless steel ball to help prevent exactly what you describe.

Doing a full rebuild again this year after the full rebuild last year, then the cam upgrade, definitely wasn't planned for in the budget. :\ But it will get fixed, and I'll be back on the track soon!

71 Ta
 

I was always told you want a high volume
Pump not high pressure. Maybe dry sump Ls type
is different. I had a high pressure in one of my Poncho
motors and it washed the bearings.

Pantera has a high volume pump that the engine builder
prepped before installing with an Aviad pan With a mech
gauge shows 60 psi almost all the time. Motor is 10 years old
and sees track and autocross turns at 7500 rpm with steady pressure

Best motor I have ever had and I have lunched over a dozen
in my lifetime. But it is a dart Ford:). Flame suit on

Bob

This is where I mounted the LS7 tank in SWs Camaro
http://i64.tinypic.com/154a8w6.jpg

Isn't that a 1st Gen F-body?

What's up Eric! That's another proven location for a tank. Stielow and others have placed it there AND thrashed on the cars successfully.

Yes it is - it was just for context. Here is Finch's 2nd gen (he built that green 69 pictured as well) with the tank in the same location.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...psrh5h8afo.jpg

It's really easy. Larger line (double the size) below the fill and suction line between two equal sized, baffled tanks. You're talking with Stefs. Ask them. They did it for my truck.

I think you're over thinking this.

But how do you deal with the return? What type of pump did you have? Separate suction/return stages dedicated to each tank?

Oh, and wouldn't be the first time!

Bob,

Maybe I have this all wrong... I have been avoiding the High Volume pumps as I assume those would make the problem even worse. Am I wrong on that? When I read high volume, I'm thinking that pump will suck the pan dry faster and push the oil up into the top of the motor. Is that wrong?

I have a phone call in to Schumann's who sells a ported and modified LS wet sump pump. I've read good things about them on various LS forums. I want to see what they have to say. They only do HV pumps, so maybe I'll learn more there too. :)

You know that I know you can make it work. ;) But the inner fender and core support in that area are very different on the Camaro and Firebird. I was starring at it last night. I considered having Stef's build a rectangular tank to fit in that space also. We'd have to move the AC components, but that wouldn't be a huge deal. Just new lines...

There. You convinced yourself. Go dry sump. See, that wasn't so bad. :lol:

Pretty sure you are trying to justify your build.......:snapout:

That ship sailed a long time ago.

Even his own builder is posting dry sump tank locations... :idea:

I,m in the same boat also looking where to place the dry sump tank. Looked at the firewall area and it it seem to close to headers in fear of heating the oil up too much. Might putting put it in the front where the battery was it will hang down slightly in the front wheel well area but than weight on the front end, And thought about putting it in the trunk but don,t know if its too long of a run for stock LS-7 pump?

That would be a first!!! LOL



I'm hungry for some Salt Lick..... :popcorn2:

Bryan -- talked to Sutton today -- he told me to tell you to go dry sump.


:theresa:

Sigh...

I had written up a long description of how I made my decision and all of the work I was planning to do, and then I get an email reply from the engine builder regarding my oil pump selection. I had talked myself into a wet-sump solution, likely using a worked-over pump from Schumann. I read good reviews and talked with them on the phone about their pumps. But my builder (Halston) tells me his experience with the pump wasn't so positive. Great...

TOW is heading his way tomorrow. It will help to have another set of eyes looking at the car with me and discussing what I should do. I'll have more info soon.

In the meantime, I did make one purchase today targeted at helping with this problem. I decided to replace my PRC radiator with a unit from C&R Racing with integrated PS and oil coolers. I am going to have to replace my current radiator anyway as it is leaking (getting worse), so I decided to step up to a better unit. I will remove a good bit of plumbing and the current 2 coolers mounted in front of the AC condenser. That removes several additional AN fittings and lengths of hose. I will also remove the oil thermostat regardless of the wet vs dry sump solution. That cleans up yet another restriction in the system. Finally, I'm going to remove the second small oil filter which I am currently using from the system. I had decided on all of those if I were staying with the wet-sump, as they would remove a lot of plumbing and restrictions to the oil flow in the current setup... They just naturally go away with the dry sump solution...

More to come...

I love you guys...

:hairpullout:

My current favorite. It's about 1 mile from where I live. An offshoot of one of the Lockhart places. ;)

http://terryblacksbbq.com/site/asset...dary-slide.jpg

That reminds me a need another visit to Austin :)

Would have been keen for Formula 1 this year but is son's 21st that week