I just had a 383 built and my stock windage tray dont fit anymore. The rods hit it in a few places. The tray is held on with 3 studs that are also used for the oil pump. Thing is I used ARP bolt for the mains and ARP doesnt have the 3 special studs I need and the machine dont want me to reuse my old 3 bolts. So, I now have no windage tray. they says its ok since my stock oil pan has a baffle in it. What should I do here?

 

I am in the exact same dilema! Building a 383, found the stock pan to be no good so I ordered a Moroso 6 quart pan with windage tray and crank scrapper. Unfortunately I only thought of the bigger basepan after I had the crank clearanced and torqued in. So I now I can't get my windage tray to work because I used ARP bolts and they are not the proper length for a windage tray. Did you contact ARP to find out that they don't make the proper main bolts for it?? I am going to try and use it because it does free up horsepower, I have heard as mush as 5-10hp.

 

No I didnt call ARP. I had my local speed shop make some calls and he had no luck. I might try calling them tommorrow and see what they say. Id hate to find out they offer them AFTER I put my engine in the car.

 

You dont technically need a windage tray.

You had one stock? I didnt. I attached my Moroso windage tray onto ARP studs, I simply sandwiched the tray with a nut on each side, and used locktite on them. The cap screws on my rods hit the tray in several spots, I had to modify it to clear. You say you cant get the right studs to mount the tray? That seems fishy.

 

gm makes the correct main bolts with windage tray standoffs,if your mains were line bored for studs(no,they are not interchangeable!)then arp makes the standoff studs.
i am in the same process,if you have bolts now,use the gm bolts.if you have studs now,you can find the arp studs on ebay.racers outlet usually has them listed for a decent price.
i have arp main bolts and am concidering a trim to fit windage screen from stefs in the jegs catalog @ like 84 bucks,pricey,but it mounts on the pan rails,no standoffs needed!then there's the canton pans with the trays built in,175 to 325 from their site.
if you have a drivers side dipstick,the pan to use is the moroso 20191(2 pc main seal).moroso also makes a 6+1 qt for the thirdgen with stock style exhaust and pass.side stick #20181.
the 20191 has a built in scraper and tray and clears 3.85 stroke,
the 20181 has no scraper or tray but is a high capacity stock replacement with a trapdoor baffle,and you can add your own other stuff,ding it to clear your crank if you need to i guess.
update;the 20191 will not clear stock crossover exhaust or headers,dammit!
and the beat goes on.........
Eric

 

well I am only uising the ARP bolts fo rthe mains(not the stud kit. I was gonna reuse the 3 GM stud bolts so I could re install my tray but the machine shop didnt recommend I reuse them and to just use all the ARP bolts and go without a tray. I have my engine back apart now and so I am still looking for a solution to this. If its not a big deal then I am just gonna go w/o one and use the ARP bolts. I am using the stock oil pan and have no intentions on getting an aftermarket one. Now your saying that ARP doesnt sell those stud bolts that replace the GM ones?

 

Any update on this thread?

I'm in the same boat. Building a 383 for my 91 Z, and I didn't get it align-honed. I ordered the ARP main bolt kit, then realized it didn't have the special bolts to retain the factory windage tray. I ordered what I thought was a ARP windage tray kit, and found out its really just the stud kit with windage tray studs included.

So now I've hit a snag in my buildup and I'm trying to figure out my options. I def. don't want to reuse the stock windage tray bolts, but I also don't want to get it align-honed just so I can use the arp stud kit. So I guess its either buy the GMPP windage tray bolts or not use the tray at all?

I want to retain the factory oil pan for many reasons...mainly because I have SLP headers and y-pipe and don't want to jump into another headache by having to get a custom y-pipe made or having the headers sit so close to the pan that they heat up the oil any more than it does now, etc.

 

Canton my be one of the few if not the only one that makes an oil pan that supposedly fits our cars with stock type exhaust. I bought the Miloden 6 quart oil pan but had to have the pan notch so that there was plenty of room for the exhaust to clear. Only cost $25.00 at the local welding shop plus paint.

Regarding the oil pan studs. Seeing mine is a 350 I can't help there. However I did buy the wire mesh style windage tray from Speedway. It is a knock off of the Miloden style but less expensive.

Yes there is power in oil control. By the way I'm only running 4 1/4 quarts of oil in the 6 quart oil pan to help keep the oil away from the crankshaft. The other 3/4 quart is in the filter for a total of five. We won't go into to my aero wing crankshaft.

 

so far so good I guess with my engine and not running any windage tray. I will never know if I can gain a few HP by adding one in but I am NOT going to try it. its just not worth the money and effort for me to add one in now for a few HP.

RevItUpZ28, I just swapped my SLP headers and Y pipe on my 383 for a nice set of Hooker LTs and custom 3" y pipe and I picked up 21 HP on a mustang style dyno. My shorties where holding back a little bit of power I would say

 

Yeah, I found thier website last night, was about to post about it, so that's now my main answer to my problem. The canton pan is $175, but to me, its worth having the windage tray in there. Every little bit helps. This option is much better than taking out the cam bearings and freeze plugs and having to take the block all the way to the machine shop just to get it align honed (so I could use the arp stud kit), then having to start the motor build all over again.

I plan on going to the Hooker LT route next year myself. I had looked at the mufflex y-pipes to go with them, not sure if they were worth the price though. Thanks for the heads up though, 21 HP is a good gain.

Thanks for the replies guys!

 

Is it necessary to have the block align honed when using arp studs? If so, why?

 

The idea behind a windage tray is two things, one to help scrap oil off of the crank that becomes like a weight attached to it especially at higher rpm and two to make a physical barrier between the oil in the pan and the crank. If you could do it all over for sure the windage tray would be the way to go and with be an added benifit to the totally running of the motor. it does help in faster and higher revving as well. Anyone looking into doing a rebuild would be wise to purchase one. If I recall a basic one from moroso wasn't very expesive and if you order main studs setup up for a windage tray(which I suggest) then you will have no problems. There is power to be made everywhere on a chevy motor so don't overlook the things you can't see. Between the windage tray and your moroso pan with the trap door you would be all set for some serious racing. The pan itself does have the trap door and some small baffiling to help keep the oil down.

 

I myself was looking at the Canton 15-020 for $175 with the windage tray. It's only 5 quarts capacity though. Does anybody know if its big enough to clear the 383's 3.75 inch crankshaft without notching or alteration?