Dry sump to wet sump

[Husqy510]

I recently acquired a couple blown small blocks. One is complete carbs to pan with a 2 stage Peterson dry sump. The other is a long block with pan and intake. My plan is to install one in the pro-street 55 I am building, the other I will hang on to for a future project.

I originally planned on putting the complete motor with dry sump in my 55, but people from Peterson essentially talked me out of it at Sema.

Based on the pan of the motor with the weind blower, I'm assuming it's already wet sump which I will eventually confirm when I pull the pan. It obviously has some lines to help with draining oil from heads to pan, but I'm curious what the Male -an on the front of the motor is for.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

That AN fitting goes into the valley to put a vacuum on the crank case.

You should just cap it if going wet sump.

 

[obnoxious001]

I recently acquired a couple blown small blocks. One is complete carbs to pan with a 2 stage Peterson dry sump. The other is a long block with pan and intake. My plan is to install one in the pro-street 55 I am building, the other I will hang on to for a future project.

I originally planned on putting the complete motor with dry sump in my 55, but people from Peterson essentially talked me out of it at Sema.

Based on the pan of the motor with the weind blower, I'm assuming it's already wet sump which I will eventually confirm when I pull the pan. It obviously has some lines to help with draining oil from heads to pan, but I'm curious what the Male -an on the front of the motor is for.

Note that instead of capping the fitting, you can remove the fitting and install a pipe plug for a cleaner look.

 

[Husqy510]

Thank you both for the replies. Is that the only required change? Do I have to change anything where the oil filter mounts?

I thought I read something about some modifications there on dry sump motors...

 

[obnoxious001]

Thank you both for the replies. Is that the only required change? Do I have to change anything where the oil filter mounts?

I thought I read something about some modifications there on dry sump motors...

Look at the rear main cap, it would have been plugged for dry sump, easy to remove the plug if that's what's been done. Check and make sure nothing else is modified. Where were they putting the oil back into the block?

Seems a bit odd to me that they would talk you out of running dry sump if you already had the parts.

 

[Husqy510]

Look at the rear main cap, it would have been plugged for dry sump, easy to remove the plug if that's what's been done. Check and make sure nothing else is modified. Where were they putting the oil back into the block?

Seems a bit odd to me that they would talk you out of running dry sump if you already had the parts.

I believe they were putting the oil back into the block at the oil filter location. It looks like it went from the pump through and oil cooler that was mounted to the factory oil filter location.

When I talked to the rep from Peterson he said that a dry sump isn't ideal for a car that sits in the garage and only gets driven a couple times a month. He said the oil will eventually settle into the bottom of the system, which needs to be addressed before starting it. He didn't go into a lot of detail, but said you'd have to spend some time making sure all the oil is in the big tank prior to starting.

 

[obnoxious001]

I believe they were putting the oil back into the block at the oil filter location. It looks like it went from the pump through and oil cooler that was mounted to the factory oil filter location.

When I talked to the rep from Peterson he said that a dry sump isn't ideal for a car that sits in the garage and only gets driven a couple times a month. He said the oil will eventually settle into the bottom of the system, which needs to be addressed before starting it. He didn't go into a lot of detail, but said you'd have to spend some time making sure all the oil is in the big tank prior to starting.

Guys that race normally use a drill to prime prior to starting I guess. Seems like you could run some sort of valves to keep the oil from draining back into the pan.

 

[Husqy510]

I always appreciate your feedback!

At the end of the day the dry sump presents some packaging issues, so a traditional wet sump will be easier. I'll keep the other motor for a future project.

In the mean time maybe we'll clean it up and store it in the living room at the river!

 

[Kct11]

I like a belt driven pump to take the load off the distributor gear. You can still store oil in a pan and have a external pump.

 

[motormonkey]

Just curios as to why not run a dry sump if you already have it. Sometimes the blocks get allot of changes.

 

[Husqy510]

Just curios as to why not run a dry sump if you already have it. Sometimes the blocks get allot of changes.

A couple reasons. As I mentioned above a rep for Peterson essentially talked me out of it at Sema. He said it would require about 30min or so to get it ready every time I want to drive it as the oil will naturally settle to the bottom of the motor.

The other reason is packaging. The harmonic balancer, pulleys and oil drive will interfere with the radiator, requiring significant modifications to the core support.

I'll keep the dry sump motor for a future project, as it looks like the other one is set up for wet sump.

Barry mentioned the rear main cap mod. Do you have any other common mods you're aware of?

 

[motormonkey]

Some engines that are dedicated dry sump engines are built different. I know I do. The fact that you can put the oil where you want it and remove where you dont, closes off parts of engine. Plus the rings and bearing clearences can be different. Can you talk to the builder?

 

[motormonkey]

Is your radiator in front of core support?

 

[motormonkey]

What was the pre oiling concern? I have questions. LOL

 

[Husqy510]

Long story short. I bought these motors from the owner of "warpath" the speed ski boat. I bought one complete motor and the other long block was a spare. Very nice guy, but didn't have a lot of details on the motors. They were originally built by Larry's speed and marine but that was a long time ago. His crew chief answered a lot of questions about the details, like specific parts, valve lash, etc... but he did not build the motors.

When I spoke to Peterson at Sema, they essentially said that dry sump is great for race cars and boats, but not ideal for cars that sit in the garage and get driven to cars and coffee once a month. Keep in mind, I ran into them early in the morning after a long night in Vegas, so the details are fuzzy, but they were trying to push a wet sump system with an external oil pump.

I will likely run the radiator in front of the core support, but the drive for the oil pump sits approximately 11" in front of the motor so I think it will still interfere with the core support.

Clearly, I'm an amateur which is why I'm doing as much research as possible

 

[motormonkey]

Peterson sells a oil filter adapter with a spud for a drill to pre oil the system. LOL that's why Im suprised they said that.
My 2 cents is leave it dry sump and figure out the drive.
Nice build by the way and I hope I didn't come off wrong. HAHA.

 

[Husqy510]

Peterson sells a oil filter adapter with a spud for a drill to pre oil the system. LOL that's why Im suprised they said that.
My 2 cents is leave it dry sump and figure out the drive.
Nice build by the way and I hope I didn't come off wrong. HAHA.

Not at all! I appreciate all the info. I'm going to drop the pan on both motors to inspect bearings and I assume I can determine if the other motor is wet sump or dry.

The dry sump motor will look great in the car, so if I can package it all in, that's the route I'll go.