392 oil dip stick length problem

[bullseyeprec]

I have a small problem, I have a 392 stroker and the dip stick is in the front of the engine (as opposed to the side of the pan near the rear) When my oil is drained the dip stick still reads over full!!!! I can hear it hitting the bottom of the pan and its pushed in the tube. My guess is that the dipstick is too long and probbaly designed for the rear of the pan so it woul go in the sump. Does anyone know the correct length for a front mount? If I cant get any lenghs or a corect stick I will cut this one off and fill th pan with correct amount of oil and drill a hole when it full and drill another hole when its short 1 quart but I woul dprefer to just buy the right part. Any ideas????

[Jack21]

I just bought the FMS chromed dipstick, and tube for mounting in the timing chain cover off the rack at the speed shop, and it works fine. If yours is hitting the bottom of the oil pan, it's too long. And if there is oil still in the pan somewhere when you drain it, you need to find a way to remove it. Is the oil pan a double sump late Mustang style? Can both rear, and front be drained?

[bullseyeprec]

yes its a dual sump and I drained both sumps..But now I am wondering if the pan holds 5 qts, filtere holds a quart (thats 6) When the oil is drained hom much stays in the cooler and line????? If none drains out that changing the filter and adding 6 qts would make me full but if the hoses and cooler drain in the pan I will need an exrta quart. Does the quart in the lines and cooler stay put when the pan is drained????????? Please help...stressing over it now.

[Rick Parker]

bullseyeprec:

Don't stress out. It's just another project
The front cover you are using is intended to be used with a front sump pan. If you have the room as most of these chassis do, I would recommend changing the pan to a front sump type. It will also necesitate changing the oil pick up tube inside the pan. The double sump pan that you have was designed & used to clear a crossmember in a production application and used a dipstick that was inserted on the side of the pan (ususally). The front cover that you have will be from a earlier application. Since the rear sump on the pan you have carries the majority of the oil and is deeper the front portion of the pan with a shallower sump will give you a false reading.

Try these:
www.aviaid.com

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Flats/1624/

[bullseyeprec]

Rick, I agree that the oil pan (factory on ford crate engine) has a shallow front sump....But since oil line is above both sumps, Couldnt I get a reading fron the front sump???? If the oil level drops say a quart both sump levels would move an equal amount? Is that correct? I do understand that if someing unusual like I knocked a hole in my rear sump or left the drain plug off in the rear sump (and the engine was not running) the front sump woul dstill say it had oil....but its unlikely that I would loose a rear drain plug while the car is sitting...and as soon as running it would be bone dry anyway....But wouldnt the front sump be safe if the oil is kept full?? I filled it and checked it and checked it when it was a qt low and my differnece between full and less 1 qt was about 1/2 inch or so..Isnt that safe?? Or am I missing something??

[Rick Parker]

As long as you know the correct "static" fill quantity you can mark your dipstick accordingly and then mark it again indicating 1 qt low. This is hoe the manufactures do it when they design the pan initially. The dipstick is just a visual tool to alert you that is may need to add some oil. If the budget will allow give some thought to a different pan, one that will control the oil during cornering, autoX, open track etc. These cars a capable of generating much higher cornering forces that the car that the pan was originally designed for.

Rick