I have a SBC with an aftermarket Oil Pan and Aftermarket Dip Stick.
So how do I set the Oil Height ? If I could get a distance from the Oil Pan Rail to the Top of the Oil Level when full I could just match what You have.

 

Typically oil pans are sized for a certain number quarts, and should be listed as such. If you don't have anything showing you that, try contacting the maker. If you get that info, then your best bet would be to just put in the number of quarts called for. Then run the engine to get all the oil pumped through the oil filter and throughout the engine. Then let it sit overnight if the oil never got hot, or for a few minutes if it did get hot. Then simply take a measurement on the dipstick, and there you are. That is the normal oil height on the dipstick. Mark it and use that as your full mark from then on.

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If you know the capacity of the pan (6 qts with the filter, etc), put that in and see where it hits on the stick. That is 'Full'.

If you don't have any 'doco' on the pan, it's a little tougher. Does the pan 'look stock - no kick-out, etc', those are usually 6qt pans. If there is a kick-out, it usually goes up to 7qts. It's not going to be much more than that, since there is no room under the low sitting Corvette. But, that would be a good place to start.

Look at Jegs, etc for pics of their pans and see if any look close to yours and go from there. Keep in mind that unless you are racing it, missing the fill level by a little (6 qts in a 7qt pan) isn't going to be a real problem. If you have a cooler, etc, take that into consideration. But it would be best to know what pan you have and how much it holds.

Hope that helps.

Good luck.
walt z.

 

It could be a 4 quart pan, 5 with the filter. If you can take a picture along with some measurements of depth and length of bottom of pan someone might be able to identify it or give you a close guesstimate of capacity.

 

Use the original dipstick and dipstick tube to determine where the [resting] oil level should be when full. Then, install the new dipstick and tube and make a mark on the stick at that same level.

 

The Oil Pan is a one off Custom Pan with Road Race style with Kick outs on both sides. There isn't any catalog or number I can call to ask what it holds. I assume for these style Pans there is a rule for how deep the Oil should be in the Sump, I just don't know the rule. I know that for maximum HP and the least windage You want the least amount of Oil that You can get away with. And one would think for Auto Cross etc the more Oil You put in it should reduce the chance of staving the suction. I'm pretty sure it will hold at least 8 quarts and probably as much as 11. So far I have run 8 or 9 qts in it. Since I have 8 qts in there now I might just mark my dip stick as minimum.

 

I would disagree.
You don't want to run the engine before making the mark on the oil stick.
Pour in the amount specified for the pan, then make the mark, then run the engine, then refill to the mark.

 

If I am reading this right; what the OP is asking is what is the opimum oil level in the pan so he can mark his dip-stick accordingly.

The oil pan manufacturers state the capacity of their pans to achieve a certain height of oil under the crank.

The interesting question is what is this height?
Or alternatively, what is the optimum gap between the lowest pont of the crank and the oil level?

I believe I found information (but cannot verify source) that a 1/2" gap will provide enough depth of oil to prevent exposing the pump pick-up under cornering but not create excessive resistance to the rotating assembly.

This gap will obviously increase slightly when the engine is running as a certain volume of oil is always "up in the engine"!

Anyone got better detail on this??

 

This is a hand made Oil Pan and there is nobody to call and ask how much. If I was to fill it to 1/2" of the Crank that would be one heck of a lot of Oil, a whole lot more than I am putting in it now. If we where to take a stock 5 quart pan, and pour 4 or so quarts in it figuring the 5th quart is in the Filter or up in the Engine. 4 Quarts would fit in the Sump portion and not in the forward section. There must be some sort of rule as to how far from the Pan Rail or Crank to have the Oil Level. Although this Pan is a whole lot wider than a Stock one, its not any lower. I'm using a Big Block Pump, and the Pickup is nothing out of the ordinary.

 

If someone has a standard pan laying around, they could pour in 4 quarts and measure from the pan rail to the oil level and tell you, that would work the best.

 

Reading else ware on the Web maybe a 1/2" below the Crank isn't all that bad after all. Or another way to look at it is when running you want the Oil at or just below the Windage Tray, certainly not above it. I have also read that 4" below the Pan Rail is a round about figure.

 

It looks like 4" down from the Rail lands right on top of the Kick outs. This would put the Oil level at least an inch below the Crank. This would mean that with a stoped Engine all the Oil would be in the sump, and none in the forward section. I think we will consider this the max or full mark.

 

Just realize that when the engine is operating, that oil level will drop (according to the amount of oil actually flowing THROUGH the engine at the time). And, at that 'operating' oil level, the suction screen needs to ALWAYS be below the oil level and it needs to be a minimum of 1/2" above the pan floor (so oil flow to it is not restricted).