Guys With Moroso 7qt Oil Pans How Many Quarts?

I had an "8 qt" Moroso, and it took 8+1 for the filter.

Edit: Now that I think about it, I have had a few deep Moroso pans, and one Milodon...
They all took their rating, plus one quart for the filter.

One of the points of the deep-sump pan is to keep the oil away from the crankshaft. If it's a 7-quart pan, it's a 7-quart system, and you're defeating half the purpose by filling it with more.

Lowering the oil level won't help windage. You just risk emptying the pan of oil at high rpm and running dry before it makes to back to the pump pickup. That is why you have high capacity pans to begin with.

The oil rope that wraps around the crank is not caused by the oil in the pan so much as the oil returning to the pan from the top end.
Lowering oil level, while the crank is still keeping a rope of oil tied up, and not in the sump, is just taking risks.

Use a crank scraper and/or a windage tray if you want the oil off the crank and in the sump.

tannerc91gt said:

Usual idea is to put in less and less fluid until you start having lower oil pressure and then add a little til it's good. Less restriction= more power. But everyone I know runs 6-7 anyways

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You would do this? Keep lowering the oil level until the engine had a oil pressure issue? WOW! What a way to potentially ****up an engine.

ratio411 said:

Lowering the oil level won't help windage. You just risk emptying the pan of oil at high rpm and running dry before it makes to back to the pump pickup. That is why you have high capacity pans to begin with.

The oil rope that wraps around the crank is not caused by the oil in the pan so much as the oil returning to the pan from the top end.
Lowering oil level, while the crank is still keeping a rope of oil tied up, and not in the sump, is just taking risks.

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Again, part of the point of a deeper, wider pan is to increase system capacity, the other part of it is to keep the oil from being frothed into an aerated foam by extended RPM's. Anyone who takes a 7 quart pan, already 40% more oil than the stock pan, and runs it at 8 quarts+ to put it up to stock-pan level is defeating part of the purpose of having the larger pan.

Bullitt347 said:

You would do this? Keep lowering the oil level until the engine had a oil pressure issue? WOW! What a way to potentially ****up an engine.

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not in the dickheaded "start it up and start pouring the oil out" way you apparently just assumed. many many people have done it this way for many many years and have managed not to up an engine. now i guess if you start with 0 quarts and work your way up to where the oil pressure is stable youd probably have an issue

Well all I can say is that is 30 plus years of building race/street engines and working on race/street cars I have not seen one person do anything close to what you describe. In all seriousness, to lower the oil level, even a little at a time "until you start having lower oil pressure" is a fubar way of optimizing oil level in an engine. At what point are you measuring the "lower oil pressure"? At WOT under max load? At cruise? At idle? At what point do you quit taking oil out of the engine? I still think this is a messed up way to approach this issue.

Bullitt347 said:

Well all I can say is that is 30 plus years of building race/street engines and working on race/street cars I have not seen one person do anything close to what you describe. In all seriousness, to lower the oil level, even a little at a time "until you start having lower oil pressure" is a fubar way of optimizing oil level in an engine. At what point are you measuring the "lower oil pressure"? At WOT under max load? At cruise? At idle? At what point do you quit taking oil out of the engine? I still think this is a messed up up way to approach this issue.

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while i dont disagree that theres a potential for damage (note i suggested a simple 6.5-7) i posted it as a "this is the usual idea ive heard people do and the reasoning behind it", not to be a step by step. i appologize if thats what it appeared to be. I do know guys who have run 6.5 and if it produces enough oil pressure at both WOT and idle, will run 6 for the reasons stated above, otherwise they will go to 7 and so forth as every engine is going to be a little different Thats not to say start draining away and keep an eye on the OP gauge. again, that is definitely not the idea

A 7qt pan is designed to be a 7qt pan. Meaning 7 in the pan. You still need whatever is in the engine like lifter valley and also the filter. The manufacturer told you that. I think the idea of a larger pan is to keep the oil from running low at high RPM when the oil can't return as fast as it is picked up by the pump. Especially helpful with a high volume pump. I'm sure it decreases windage a little bit but that is what a windage tray and or scraper is for. It also keeps the oil a bit cooler. And also running it low will cause cavitation which is aireated oil and will wipe out bearings. You also can run out of oil top end or on launch due to cavitation and never see it on the gauge because it happens so fast and still has a volume.

MFE92 said:

Again, part of the point of a deeper, wider pan is to increase system capacity, the other part of it is to keep the oil from being frothed into an aerated foam by extended RPM's. Anyone who takes a 7 quart pan, already 40% more oil than the stock pan, and runs it at 8 quarts+ to put it up to stock-pan level is defeating part of the purpose of having the larger pan.

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And this is assuming that the factory designed the engine to run too much oil in the first place, which I believe would be a bad assumption.

Like I said, it doesn't matter if you lower you oil in the pan if the oil rope is not coming from the oil in the pan, and that oil rope is going to "froth" everything up anyway.

The benefit of a deep pan is not the ability to lower the oil, if that worked to stop windage, they wouldn't make windage trays and crank scrapers. The benefit is more oil so running the engine at extreme rpms doesn't suck the pan dry before the oil makes it back to the pickup (which does happen). Without a crank scraper and/or tray, this oil is going to cause the roping, which is the windage power loss, no matter how far from the crank the pan oil is.

Btw: I do recall the instructions with the aftermarket pans telling you to use the stock dipstick, so if the purpose of the pans are to lower the oil level, then the manufacturers don't know it yet.

As for putting 8 qts in a 7 qt pan, that is because the pan holds x-amount, but you still need to fill the oil filter, so there is not really 8 qts in a 7 qt pan when you are done.

i run them 1 quart low. i had my daily driver ls1 hurt bearings because i was running a full pan and leaving hard. the oil went to the back of the pan and got into the crank on launch, whipping it up and the oil pressure dropped. i presume because it was being pulled away from the pickup. so i run them all a quart low and use expensive oil now. i would do as your builder says.

clement said:

i run them 1 quart low. i had my daily driver ls1 hurt bearings because i was running a full pan and leaving hard. the oil went to the back of the pan and got into the crank on launch, whipping it up and the oil pressure dropped. i presume because it was being pulled away from the pickup. so i run them all a quart low and use expensive oil now. i would do as your builder says.

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My 7qt pan on my SBC has a trap door in the bottom to prevent this.