Hypothetical question, so don't over-analyze.

If you could get one of the following oiling system upgrades for an engine you were building, which would you choose?

- Rear Baffle

- Windage Tray

- Crank Scraper
 

i have always thought that the rear baffle was mostly used in drag racing to stop the oil in the pan from climbing up the back of the pan and getting up into the rotating crank and rods...

the windage tray was used to redirect the slung off oil leakage from the rods and mains back into the pan....  

the crank scraper ...  that would take a a bunch of work... to get it really tight..  to scrape the tiny amount of oil that is still sticking to the crank at 7000 rpm...

anti oil coatings may remove the need for these crank scrapers......

as for the oil system...   did you open the rear main cap up where the oil pump mounts...    did you open the oil pump and do the same internally to that...     did you see the article on redesigning the relief area  that is cast into the pump housing where the gears come together...   in the article you can feel when there is pressure being made the pump cogging as the gears come together , there is no place for the pressurized oil to escape from so it has to push out between the gear teeth at high pressure..


also... do you use a long ball end grinding tool to radius the corners in the oil galleys ..... then use  long galley brushes to verify every thing is totally clean...  i miss old style dip in type hot tanks for this... as you could pull it up on the lift chain and work the brushes in and out while the block is partially submerged..


i have been meaning to get some chevy pumps and modify a few and take them to the local oil pump rebuilder to see what sort of power reduction is shown on their pump testing machine...  yep    there are companys that rebuild automotive oil pumps..


i would also think that some inventive grooves in the main and rod bearings would let the oil out into a deep groove that gets shallower as the crank rotates so the friction builds  a better wider pressurized film of oil on the crank journal surfaces...  these have to be done at the bearing manufacturing level  not with a hand grinder...


wayne...  

Car Craft or Hot Rod did a dyno story recently where they tried out crank scrapers and windage trays, and saw minimal power gains with each on the dyno.

I'd go with the rear baffle, because of its importance to keep oil from sloshing all around in the pan and uncovering the oil pump sump, especially on hills and in cornering.