Is this worth buying? Buddy says it can pick you up a few extra ponies...any pros or cons?

 

It helps to keep the oil that is in the pan from slushing around and helps to keep the oil pickup submerged in oil. It certainly won't hurt anything. As far as picking up a "few extra ponies", I highly doubt you'll get any extra HP and even if you were able to, you'll probably not notice anything.

 

you can gain up to 7 hp from a windage tray, keeps oil from being thrown around by crank and rods.

 

69 -

Don't know about the exact amount of HP, but it doesn't hurt, it can help, so I don't leave home without it.

Yes, the theory is too keep the oil off the crank and rods.

Archer

 

If you've ever watched mom with the mixers in the kitchen you'll see how the liquid wraps up around the mixers. The same can happen in the crankcase with oil wrapping itself around the crank (entire reciprocating assy). This will create some parasitic drag.

If the engine is open, and going through a performance build up, and IF you are doing all the other performance tricks to increase performance, then maybe it is worthwhile. DO NOT go through the effort if the engine is not getting built anyway. There is far more effective gains to be had before looking here.

 

In the old Direct Connection catalog they said you could gain up to 10 HP. No you'll probably never notice in the seat of your pants but your time slip will show it.

 

10 hp based on what engine combination? A single part, no matter what will not yield the advertised HP increase without all the other modifications associated.

Far too often I hear guys at a cruise night or car show boasting of what amount of horsepower their car makes. They have added up all the advertised HP increases of all the modifications that they have added and think that equals the total HP increase of the car. NOPE!

Want to know your horsepower HONEST? Real HP? Here it is:

 

Crazy -

Just a clarification, if we're dealing with the same formula, it's:

gross weight x (trap speed at 1/4mile/234)^3 = HP at the wheels.

Plugging in top speed gets "hopeful" numbers at best. Guys also have to note the "at the wheels" part, not the engine HP (at the flywheel).

Even that's a little tricky as that would imply "in a perfect world".

But yeah, the "kids" adding up the numbers from the magazines and Internet does get a little silly - ah, if they were only true.

Archer

 

i agree with crazy, about ppl talking about how much they gained by addeing this or that, everyone thinks headers are the easiest way to get power, will they do make power, but dont really start untill 3000~4000, before that the can hinder performance at the low end, same with other options, its all what your after, somthing thats just street driven or street/track or just track,

 

Well said C4C!

 

You will gain horsepower with a windage tray. The factory-type windage trays which came in the old 340 engines were effective, but aftermarket ones can save even more horsepower. Racers often use a "crank scraper" which is custom-made and fit close to the crank/rod assembly to remove as much excess oil as possible.

My favorite way to measure horsepower was to use a dyno. It's relatively easy to find dyno shops nowadays, and they are a great tool for fine-tuning. Looking around online I found some windage tray dyno tests, and power increases ranged from 5 to 12 horsepower.

 

Let's play it conservatively here. Say the Mopar engineers were correct and there is horsepower to be gained by adding a windage tray. As Sangestsu stated 5-12 HP, we'll go with 5... A windage tray with gaskets is about $30. That's only $6 per Horsepower. If it's 10 HP that's only $3 !!!

 

the harder you rev the engine the more the tray will work . or the same with hard cornering , exceleration / deceleration . i you have a high vol oil pump & are reving over 6000 rpm your sump oil will be getting low . that said you'll want to make sure if its a std mopar one cut a few extra slots in it with a angle grinder & thin cutting disc , to help the oil drain back into the sump . but if you don't have a very heavy foot the extra slots arn't necessary .

 

Hi Guys , Im new here and an Aussie.Im 52 and have been a motor mechanic since i was 14. I own several old mopars including a 340 360 several 318,s about half a dozen 273,s a few slant sixes and a couple Aussie made Hemi 265 6 cyl. Now maybe this will help with your question on windage trays, The trays job isnt so much to stop oil wrapping around the crank but its actually there to stop large blobs of oil slamming into it at hi RPM,s , Think of it like this , you fall from a thousnd feet and land on on your stomack on water . your guts is every where. Well same for the crank at 6000+ rpm if the counter wieght on the crank slams into 2lbs of oil its like smashing into concrete and just the vibration at 6000rpm will splash oil like crazy, so the trays job is to prevent this from happening so it doesnt have any retart effect on the crank hence the increased HP basically it can spin more freely with out being retarded buy flying oil. Now the DOWN side of a tray. It will prevent the bottom end of your engine being splash lubed even if you have brillant oil pressure and feed the lack of splash can cuase an increase of heat on the bottom end as the splash cant cool the components like the shaft rods and most of all bearings. No your temp gauge wont show it, it happens at point of contact. So its about what you want from your engine if its a street engine and HP and RPM isnt paramount and reliability is more important leave it out. But if HP Torque and RPM is paramount and the car isnt used on a daily basis buy all means use it.(Race Car). Street use low rpm under 5000rpm theres really no need for it and your engine will like the splash and thats why you only find them mostly in the high performance range of engines most standard low RPM engines there just simply no need for it. Now for your HP of your engine theres really only 1 way to be 100% accurate. A engine dyno not a car dyno theres to many variables like a brake dragging or a trans band dragging etc etc etc and it can not distinguish the amount of lost HP from the flywheel to the rear wheels. an engine dyno will tell you exactly what you have at the flywheel RPMS HP and Torque. No you cant just add up your parts and think you got so much HP it dont work like that thers to many variants and combinations some work some dont infact ive seen engines modifided buy owners and they go backwards less than a std engine. Hope that helps. I have seen cranks snap due to slamming into blobs of flying oil. It is common in certain engines for this to happen when highly modified for hi RPM,s.. Hope that helps.

 

Think about what you want from your engine , is it Max Reliabilaty is it Max HP is it Max RPM,s is it Max Torque. Remember combination is the key the right cam the right displacement the right aspiration etc etc etc , Good luck.

 

I would think that the tray does not "add" any hp... it merely frees up that inherient HP thats lost to the drag of the oil coated parts. I've used them in builds of 'other' brands.

Russ

 

LOL Russ with all due respect if it frees up inherient HP then its adding lost HP thats the whole point LOL with out it theres a small drop in HP with it you GAIN IT BACK LOL. Its was never making that HP without a tray thats the whole point buy adding the tray you get back what you,ve lost so there for its a gain.