Oil capacity

Hello to all!

I've been on the sidelines for awhile, this really seems like a marvelous place-kudos to the management.

I very much need to start with a mild question:

I'd like some declarations on the oil capacity of a pan from a seventies Ford econoline with a 429/460 engine which has just been installed in a new project, a '46 ford coup. The engine has 6 quarts of oil in it, and we spun a mocked up distibutor drive until we had the pressure we were happy with, but still at this moment there is no oil on the dip stick, (which came along from the same van-by the way.)

We probed with a piece of wire and found that we were about 2.25 inches away from the oil in the pan.

Was this a seven quart pan?

I don't want to add too much more and have the rods and crank counterweights smacking around all this oil just because the dipstick finally registered.

Any suggestions/answers would be appreciated greatly.

Hunts

Stock 429 - 460 oil pans have a 5-quart capacity, I believe.

The 302 motors in the E-350's ('88 vintage anyhow) were a 7 qt. dual sump design. Not sure about the big blocks, check a Chilton's book maybe????

Read all about it.....read all about it....get ya paper here.....read all about it.....

http://ncfto.org/Articles/429460oilpan.htm

pirated from The Ranger Station....

Oil Pan:
The first consideration is the oil pan on your engine. Ford engines of the 1960's and 1970's generally used front sump oil pans. These will not fit the Ranger/Bronco II chassis properly. Instead, a rear sump or dual sump oil pan must be used. Rear sump oil pans are originally used on full-sized trucks and Econoline vans and hold 6 quarts of oil. They are the preferred oil pan as the extra quart of oil is of somewhat of an advantage for performance and off-road applications.

The other choice is a dual sump oil pan. These are easy to spot because they literally have two sumps, one at the front and another at the rear with a drain plug on each. The front sump is for clearance to the oil pump and the rear sump is the reservoir for the oil. The biggest advantage to the dual sump pans is that the engine may be situated about half an inch lower in the chassis. Dual sump pans were originally installed on vehicles like 1979 and newer Mustangs, 1980's Crown Victoria's and Grand Marquis, and a few others.