Better is relative. As long as it keeps
oil off your crank it doesn't matter what it's made of as long as it stays in place. My Aviaid windage tray was $129. but it's no better than the Ford Performance unit. But if it makes you feel better to spend $80 then by all means do so. It's still cheap horsepower.
Carcraft this month did an article on windage. They got 20 hp from a BBC by reducing windage. At $25 per hp that's $500 worth of performance not to mention the longevity, rev increase and other benefits you will get...
As it happens I installed a 9 quart Unser pan left over from my 427 Cobra build and put it on the Batmobile this week. The goal was to replace a standard
oil pump installed in the late 70's, install the 9 quart pan and while I was in there upgrade the
oil pump drive and install a windage tray.
The batmobile has a 1963 427 C3AE AB that would have come with a high pressure pump. I had good oil pressure but with fewer than 5k miles it should have been better... Sure enough upon tear down the oil pump / oil pump drive were standard parts store units.
I opted for a Melling M-57HP pump, ARP 3/8" oil pump drive (1/4" ends) a Ford Performance Windage tray and the Unser T pan that came on my side oiler.
The result was instantly noticeable. The oil pressure went from 55# cold to 98# cold... 40 hot to 75# hot at speed. The surprizing difference was the way the engine responded. It revved faster, idled better and had better seat of the pants "feel".
All the parts were leftover from the original build with the exception of the windage tray and a set of ARP oil pan bolts. so for a $140. (the complete FE ARP fastener set was $99) got a significant performance upgrade. Well worth it in every way, it looks great and runs even better.
