Hey OSO
I just did a rebuild on my 89 454 mag. Stock pan, oil filter relocation, Fram HP4 filter. How much oil is needed? I've got 8 quarts (7 in the pan and one in the filter). While priming, I found out that I forgot to put in the two block plugs above the camshaft. After a huge mess, I lost some oil. I continued to prime the motor. I added some cam shield which was 4 oz, and 3 quarts of oil. I am still not seeing anything on the stick. So final question is how much oil does a dry gen 4 bbc need between passages, oil cooler, filter and the pan.

Thanks!

8 qts.

And it's technically a Mk IV, not a Gen 4. The MkIV is actually the 2nd Generation BBC.
When they went to the successor, Ford's ownership of the MkV name prompted GM to drop the "Mk" and shift to the use of "Gen" even though the actual "generation" of the engine doesn't match the naming.

A Gen5 is a third generation BBC
A Gen6 is a fourth generation BBC.
A Gen7 (the 8100 Vortec and 496 models) is a fifth generation BBC.
Just saying.\

Wasn't aware of the reason as to why, but I knew it was a MK 4, just didn't know it wasn't called a gen 4. Thanks for the history lesson! I'm going crazy now. I def didn't loose more than 2 quarts of oil. IDK why i'm not seeing any oil on the stick! The motor is in the boat now being hooked up so I can fire it up, but this needs to get sorted out first! Any ideas??? I have 11 quarts in total, but lost some oil while priming.

Man i just saw your post. Hope you got it sorted by now, but if not I would say something must be amiss with your dipstick. As far as I know thats an 8 qt pan, figure on MAYBE another full qt for filter, lines, and oil cooler. Then generous estimate one more full qt for dry engine after rebuild? Maybe your dipstick isnt sitting far enough down in pan? Id run it, see what oil pressure you got then drain all the oil and put 9 qts including filter and see where your at on filter.

I just did this - Mk IV 454, dry. Added 8 qts, took the dipstick level. Primed for 10 minutes, let the oil drain back down for 20 minutes. It then took 3.25 quarts to bring the level back up to the 8 quart mark on the dipstick.

I was suprised it took that much also until I did the math. 9' of -10 (1/2" ID) hose can hold ALOT of oil, plus cooler, plus filter, plus block passages...

Yep.

My gen 6 engines take 8.5 quarts to change the oil. They took a solid 11 after being dry this winter for rebuilds