Toronado Oil Pan Problems

"... mythical is a good description of a Toro pan in regards to a being a performance part."

The following is a response I received from a highly regarded Oldsmobile supplier regarding the practice of installing Toronado oilpans on rear-wheel drive cars.

Although you will gain an extra quart of oil capacity, which will help in lowering the oil temp., this does not out weigh its problems in a performance application.  Because of the clearance needed for the Toro's drive shafts, the pan is in effect, divided into two separate sumps.  The front sump has no drainback provision to the rear sump (and oil pickup).  The oil in the front sump area is directly subjected to the crank throws (and timing chain).  Which creates windage. Which results in a loss of horsepower, and perhaps worse, aerated (foamy) oil at higher rpm.
In an effort to contain this excess of thrown oil from climbing the right side cylinders, at least they added the scraper to the side of the pan to assist in drainback.  Which I might add, is not a bad idea to duplicate and add to any performance application oil pan.  Additionally, the Toro pan does not feature the rear sump baffle as used on other big block applications which helps maintain oil coverage of the pickup under hard deceleration.  When using factory components in a performance application, a standard big block pan with the Toro rear windage tray will provide the best results.

The right way to increase oil capacity.
Supercars Unlimited has parts that will make your oiling system keep up to your demands.
Milodon has an on-line catalog.  Part number 30305 is an Olds 7 quart oil pan with a 8 1/4" depth, the same as a stock Olds oil pan.  18411 is the high capacity bolt-on oil pickup for an Olds high volume oil pump for that pan.  The 7 quart pan will be above the bottom of your engine crossmember, protected from road hazards.
Part number 30300 is an Olds 8 quart pan with a 9 1/4" depth.  The high capacity oil pickup for that pan is part number 18415.  The bottom of the 8 quart pan will probably hang about ½" below your engine crossmember.
Milodon lists an Olds high volume oil pump, 18865, which is probably the same as getting one from TRW or Sealed Power.

Milodon 32245 is a windage tray for an Olds, and 81219 are the bolts for the windage tray installation, which actually replace almost all of the original main cap bolts. Unfortunately, I don't know if the windage tray will interface with ARP main studs.

back to the OldsZone back to Tech.