Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines Chevy 250 oil capacity

Okay, I recently bought a 78 Checker Taxi with a Chevy 250 in it that is a replacement engine from a rebuilder and has about 3000 miles on it. I changed the oil the first time and drained about 8.5 quarts! The capacity per the owners manual is supposed to be 4.5 quarts which is what I put in with the new filter. Now the dipstick shows no oil on it. Nada. And there are no leaks.
The only ideas I can think of are that the oil pan is deeper, but how could I determine that? Or, that the dipstick was swapped from the original motor and is too short or the dipstick tube is too long. The small amount of epoxy squeezed out at the base of the dipstick tube suggests it was swapped.
I measured the dipstick from the end of the collar on the handle to the end of the dipstick and got 12 1/4". The dipstick tube from block to opening is 5 1/2".
I checked the casting number of 93403466 and its the right year range.
Any ideas?
Thanks, Keith

measure the oil pan and compare it to a stock one.

a lot of fleet cars had bigger oil pans.

What you have there is right for a car block. Sounds like someone changed or did something to the oil pan. Look for welding around the sump part of the oil pan. Even the checker Fleet only had 5qts At least all the one we used to run Up in Buffalo And we bought them from NY city.I don't recall any holding that much. Even a 292 only holds 6. I have one or two truck blocks here and the sticks. From car to truck ranger from about 12in. -21in. I know the Vans are even longger the tubes range from 5/12 to almost 9 in again Vans are even Longger.

The six oil pan is not well baffled. I dont know about the Taxi, but in my early Nova's, if I am over a quart low I can starve it for oil on turns or a hard launch (and these are 1-barrels with stock size tires...)

If you have a good oil gage that is a good test - start with about 4 quarts and take some hard turns - when you see it starving, you know that aint enough - should be 2 quarts above that.

Of course best is to have the pan off & figure it all out that way, get the pickup right near the pan bottom