[The "Oooh Thats A good idea" Lathe Thread]

Probably, but I owe the sweet lines of my robot fish to 3 axis cnc

Father in law in using Mach3 to make a cnc myford. . What I will say, is that even if you can't afford cnc kits, the digital tracking that clips on is very good. Those wheel dividers might be okay for lathe-jokeys who do it all day. But us mortals prefer a nice easy read display

[Dry Sump Pan Ideas]

I just started making the dry sump tank before the engine block returns from its boring week away.

As somebody who knows nothing of dry sump systems, I assume the engine breather connects to the dry sump tank, and it breaths to a drain tank, thereby sorting the gas out for everything. And all at low pressure to stop leaks.

But, every normal factory screw compressor I’ve seen has no lubrication oil pump. The compressed air forces the oil through the filters and up the lube points on the compressor head, which is at atmospheric pressure. The oil goes through the compressor and back into the separator reservoir. Simples

It’s an extreme example of what I wonder is normal on dry sump?

Because, some positive pressure makes pressure pumps work better. (especially really crappy rover ones) So the logical thing to do is to connect the engine breather to atmosphere, and fit the dry sump tank with a 5 psi gas relief valve. That means the pressure pump is always fed oil rather than sucking it. And rolling over means the relief valve holds the oil in.

Is this logical, or normal, or something to avoid?

I ask because I saw on the net a description for a pug dry sump. The bloke blanked off the engine breathers, which is like the reverse. So scavenge would be excellent, but he risked blowing the seals out of the engine. So I assume he was nuts?

[Dry Sump Pan Ideas]

A 'clack' as we used to call them, only sorts out oil starvation. There's still the problem of half-a-sumps worth of oil round the front 2 pistons. This is smelly and wrecks the plugs

I see the V8 Ibex on Difflock already has a dry sump system, so we're not alone in our thinking. The belt snapping is a fair point, but thats an 'if' rather than an 'is'. We're sure we are causing damage with foam oil every outing. And I carry a spare belt around the front PTO shaft, so a quick fix. I see that £36 gets me a hand operated boat 'sump pump' which gives me a bit more system control (if I get pump bypass during storage).

On the whole I'd say its personal preferance based on the task and the engine type. If it were a four potter I could lay hands on easily, I'd be less inclined (virtical piston run). But a re-built RV8 is quite a wallet slapper, so in many ways I'd call a dry sump 'investment insurance'

[Dry Sump Pan Ideas]

We're thinking the same as Daan here with airation. Normally the oil light tells you when the engines wrecked, so it being 'out' isn't a sign of sufficient oil volume, just some oil volume.

If your keeping good gauge pressure, then all must be okay? But is airation still allowing metal-to-metal contact in the engine? I guess it would?

Accusump looks a good piece of kit. Hopefully a 200mm round/deep dry sump tank will eliminate the need for one on a cluncky old V8. I wouldn't run on my side (though it is a neat trick) as many other on-board oil based systems would suffer.

On the whole, as plant fitters, we think dry-sump is somthing we should have fabricated years back

As a footnote, I was talking to my father the other day, who was saying how the local post-knockers were working on a steep bank and knocked the crank out of their unimog I am begining to suspect that the time spent at steep angles is the critical decider on engine damage, not the severity of angle.

[Dry Sump Pan Ideas]

I hear exactly what your saying Zim, and I'm hoping your a step behind, and not one on front ? Because I'd hate to get this crank-chewingly wrong.

Our thinking is logical, but my descriptions usually dyslexic, but here goes.......

On a race car you put the pick ups at the extremities of the sump so they drain all the oil. Because of flaps and baffles the scavenge pumps are never without oil for long. Maybe only until the next bend. Pace do a '3 scavenge-1 pressure' pump pack. I'm guessing any of the 3 can out-pump the pressure feed? (10 liter/min at 1000rpm.

But the smart money says that ten minuets nose down in a ditch and that system will sieze the pump, or really make it miserable

So those small 'mid baffles' are going in to dam up oil on the high end, around the pick up tube. The distance in from the ends is a guess, and is a hope that the oil from the rear crank throw, will chuck oil onto the dry sump surface. It will run down the channel, get stopped by the baffle, and feed the high-end scavenge to keep it lubricated. Because its a simple hard-ware solution, it should be more reliable than oil injectors connected to the scavenge pump inlets (just another joint to leak). The sump will stop being 'dry' for a bit as a pool forms at the back or front. But inbetween, on the flat, a pool forms between the baffles in the sump plug part of the channel. Which may be good or bad

Does above sound fair? It's a bit of a puzzler. We have spent a fair amount of thinking time on it, looking at dry sumps, semi wet, pump back (small scavenge takes front oil and fills pan), external pressure pump using OE pump as scavenge. And electric pump back as Simon suggests, even as a 'pump back' on a tilt switch.

So like my Sliding Fairled, we seem to be re-inventing the wheel But seeing the anticks of other challenge trucks, I think it will become more common a fitment. Good job the auto has two pumps

[Dry Sump Pan Ideas]

Though I'm not sure the front and rear don't want tapering off a bit more? And it's definately a few mm's too wide and needs jumping on. You never know till' you've got it's sat in place

Middle hole is sump plug, the end holes are scavenge, the little bits are the internal baffles and the single hole by the plate is the scavenge pipe break-out point to the tank.

I need to go find some mesh, which is why I saved the old fire gaurd

I think I've found a suitable external relief valve. I wonder whether to tap a hole in the remote filter housing (nice and high) or go into the pump housing (local to pump and maybe the same thread)? Either way, the old shuttle releif is getting wedged shut!

[Dry Sump Pan Ideas]

Here goes my first post on here

I've been waiting for me authorisation to post, as I'm on for the same dry sump conversion. A really steep nose down drop finished him off at Bridgenorth. So time for an engine rebuild, and a method to stop us killing the new parts.

I'm as far as stamping the new dry sump blank out. I'll try to get it bent this week. I've gone for a shallow 'V' with a 40 x 50mm channel down the middle. (Assuming I press Brake it in the right place). This seemed fair, looking at others and reading above.

I was going for a bulkhead mounted tank leading to a flexi hose through the sump to the original pickup pipe inside. Then I only need to drive two scavenge pump stages which won't take much belt power. I'd go toothed belt, but I'm not a fan of running anything but 'V' belt in mud and sticks

My main concearn is that scavenge pumps are oil lubricated. So I'm trying to baffle the dry sump so the high-and-dry pickup can get some splash oil.

My main reason for posting was to see how far you'ld got fabricating yours?