The crew at Moroso has produced a neat technical video that shows a couple of ways to properly check oil pump pickup to pan clearance when building an engine. This is a very important measurement (some would say the most important) because it is the way you’ll make sure that your oil pump will have sufficient ability to draw the right amount of oil through your motor on the street or at the track. As you know, there’s more than one way to do everything in this world and that is why Scott Hall of Moroso take you through a couple of different methods to get the measurements the right way. Believe it or not, there are lots of things to consider in this equation from pan design to gasket thickness, to potential pan deflection from a vacuum pump, etc.
We love videos like this because they are educational and they do a great job of laying out the hows and the whys of this procedure. While we’re as guilty as anyone else who has simply bolted a pump to the bottom of their engine and just slapped an oil pan on, this video has officially changed our procedure. The reality is that lots of aspects of building a successful engine come down to the details and while the aftermarket industry does a lot to handle those details for us, it is imperative to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s when screwing together a powerful (and powerfully expensive!) engine. That may count as double when it comes to the oiling system that will ultimately determine whether the thing lives or dies, right?
Give this video a watch, learn some stuff, and come out armed a little better when you are upgrading, building, or simply checking your current hot rod engine. This is the time of the year when lots of racers are going through their stuff so take some time in your shop to see if you have the right clearance, the right pan, and that your engine has the right flow of oil to keep things lubricated. The devil is in the details. Thanks for reminding us, Moroso!
