What oil pump for 7k, road race, and axle oil lifters?
 

Trying to decide on which oil pump to run. Plan on turning up to 7k on my stroker motor, and have axle oiled lifters, but don’t want to suck the pan dry.

Pan is a c5 ls6 batwing that I have put the improved racing baffles in. I also opened up the passages behind the side baffles to get more oil in around the opposite baffle when cornering. Also will be using the improved racing crank scraper setup.


Will oil restricting pushrods be recomended in this application too?

I'm not an expert on this by any means, but the stock pumps have cavitation issues at high RPM. I went with the how high pressure Melling 10295, the high volume pump, the meeting 10296 is known to suck oil sumps dry.

I plan on getting a C5 and turning it into a track car eventually so I would also like to know some of this information. It might be a good idea to add an Accusump into the mix.

I went with the Melling high-pressure pump on my C5. Not stock because of high rpm concerns, and not high-flow because I've heard too many stories of LS engines getting oil starvation under high rpm and long high-g turns. Gen 4 seems to be more prone to that than Gen 3, but still. Plus the high pressure should compensate for the added oil cooler.

I haven't tracked my C5 yet but I spent last summer getting it ready and will be taking it out the next chance I get. Can hardly wait...

I would def do axle oiling lifters

yep, already purchased johnson 2126lsr

planning on 3/8 pushrods as well

2010 Camaro OP + Valve Spring Cooling
 

Hi Thomas, I use a 2010 Camaro OP and port the pump/shim the pressure spring .060".

I "port" to Oil Pan in the area of the filter insert AND drill a new passageway in that area to "bypass" an amount of oil past the oil cooler.

UNDERSTAND the high engine RPM can "turn" your Valve Springs Blue from excess heat, thus top end oil flow is needed.

Your MB clearance should be .002" (AL Crankcase) with Rods @ 0035"

I would "overbalance" by 2%

Lance

The only cars I know of that died from oil starvation in turns were on road courses when it happened. I wouldn't worry about it in a street car or drag racer.

I have habit of breaking stuff though, and road courses are the whole reason I bought my C5.

I've been following the Spec Corvette guys to see how they do. So far it seems like Gen 3 motors on 200 treadwear tires with no aero aren't really in great danger. Most of them aren't even running baffles in the oil pan. So I'm going to hold off on a dry sump until/unless I get a Gen 4 motor, slicks, or aero. None of which are likely in the next couple/few years.

Meanwhile there's a thread over at CorvetteForum asking who hasn't blown their Gen 4 on a road course and it really does sound like dry sumps are the only way to go with those.

Lance and Scott, do y'all have pictures of the porting you do on the oil pan oil passage for the return oil?

I don't know if it's a thing with cars but when I used to do long distance stand up wheelies on bikes I would burn up the motor from starving it for oil and adding a quart or so would keep it from doing it. Has anyone tried this with road racing? I know it's not ideal, but neither is burning up a motor.

Very common to add a quart over. I do it on my LS6 at all times. Its in a GTO which has a front sump and I circuit and oval race it. I never had a problem, but would also like to see pics of the mod. Lance where are you??

The LS6 is a better set up for road racing. The head and block design allows the oil to flow back to the sump quicker. The hot set up for road racing a 6, is to uncap the rear head vents, set #7 ring gap at .0018 if doing the motor, and add baffles and a crank scraper.

The OP has a C5, but unless I missed it, didn't state if it was a 6 or a 1. The Ls6 motors are good racers with adequate oil return and a light valve train. I have no personal experience with LS3s, but I understand that the head design isn't as good for oil return. The LS6 oil pump is also adequate, but I found it interesting that Lance would recommend a 4h gen Camaro pump. Must be some special quirk to it.

I'm not for sure but I think the L99's use a different oil pump since it has the DOD/AFM. My "guess" is that pump flows more to support that but it's just a guess.

The most promising theory I know of for the Gen 4 oil starvation issue is that the oil doesn't drain back from the heads fast enough. Restricted pushrods allegedly help somewhat, and one guy even put AN fittings into his heads so he could run hoses to the pan, but I don't think I saw how that turned out.