Charlie,
You may need to increase the gap between the windage tray and the scrapper.  I can't tell from the pictures if you can tilt the windage tray or not to provide mor room for the oil from the scrapper to retun.  You may need to cut the windage tray back some.  The scrapers I have designed in the past mounted on a window frame (like the one you had water jet cut) on the side of the facing the cylinder bores and angled up away from the windage tray towards the crank centerline. I had series of slots cut in the window frame to allow the oil from scrappers to flow directly back to the pan.  So my windage tray design was mounted short of these openings. Also mine were done for a dry sump system and the pan was only about 3 1/2" tall.
Bob

I can move the tray about 1/8" farther from where it is.  I can try that to see what happens.  I can't tilt it much since I did not design it for that.

The scraper you describe sounds like a down-stroke scraper.  It would go on the opposite side.  I wanted to try that but I don't have any good way to bend the 11 gauge steel (.105")


Lawrenceville, GA

Charlie.  Two things come to mind regarding the lower cold oil pressure.  Your windage tray design is neither of these.
 
First is insure you have at least a ¼” clearance between the oil pickup and the bottom of the pan. Based on your pictures, the target clearance was good.  Whether that happened on the final version is something you’ll have to determine.
 
Second is the rubber grommet at the inlet of the oil pump.  Any air sucking in right there will have an adverse effect on both the cold and hot oil pressure.  Packing the outside of the rubber seal with white grease (my cure for almost everything) during the inlet tube installation helps with the seal at that junction.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Pickup clearance is good. I was very careful about that, checking with all of the actual parts being used when tacking together and once more after welding was completed.

I used Permatex Hylomar HPF on the grommet. It's a very tacky, non drying sealant. It is the Fel-Pro grommet, which I know you are not fond of. Trying a different bushing will be far easier than removing the pan. So I can do that. The grommet I was using is Melling, which is very much like Best Gasket so that is something else that has changed since the tear down.


Lawrenceville, GA

It looks like the inlet tube seal was the problem.  It looks like there is a manufacturing defect in the metal bushings of the Fel Pro seal because both halves have identical problems in the exact same position.  It's hard to notice unless you look close and hold it at the right angle.  I replaced it with an all rubber Best Gasket seal.  The Best Gasket seal has a smaller inner diameter than the Fel Pro seal, about 1/32" smaller so it also fits the tubing better right from the start.  I have another Fel Pro seal from a gasket set I bought about 15 years ago, to verify that this aspect is not just another defect.  The Best seal is actually a little smaller than the tubing and the Fel Pro seal is about the same amount larger.

The engine is ready to get back to the track to see if the high rpm part is fixed and hopefully get my best time slip, yet.
The engine seems less cold-natured, though it wasn't too bad before, and the mid range does feel more responsive.  It'll be nice if those aren't my imagination.  Won't really have a way to tell, though.





Lawrenceville, GA

The engine is using about 10% less fuel.  I've filled up 4 times now, and each time, it takes about 10% less gas than expected.  And that is city, hwy might be a little better.  That's a plus.


Lawrenceville, GA