Hey Mike, mine was a dry sump also, if you are trying to keep the excess oil out of the engine i dont think the drian holes in the lifter valley would be the problem. I think part of my problem was it had 16-1 compression and a 4.250 stoke. When my engine builder built it he had never built a SBC with a 4.250 stroke and wasnt sure it wouldnt try to throw the the rods right out of the block. The only problem i ever had was main bearings and im not sure it wasnt the rocket block. I had a freind with a 454 with a 4.125 stroke in a dart block with no problems and he is still running it after 5 years.

Do you have a suction line from the lifter valley? if not you will fill it up with oil.We have built many engines using this block with no problems. Bill

Yes one line in lifter galley & 3 on oil pan. What clearance do you run on the main bearings?

We use .003/.0032 with .0025 / .0028 on the rods.most drag racers don't get the oil temp up high enough before making a run and cold oil doesn't flow very well,this problem is worse in a dry sump engine where the oil isn't in the engine very long. you need light weight oil and a heater on your dry sump tank to get the oil above 160 deg before making a run,we use Gibbs XP3 which is a full synthetic 10/30 weight in normally aspirated engines and XP6 in the blown, turbo and heavy N20 engines. its 15/50 Bill