Printable Version | Subscribe | Add to Favourites
New Topic New Poll New Reply
Author: Subject: Foam filled sump
NS Dev

posted on 9/5/04 at 08:53 PM Reply With Quote
Foam filled sump

Many of you probably already know this lot, but I am trying to find a really good way of avoiding oil surge without the bother of dry sumping (Vauxhall 16v XE in ST Loco chassis)

I have very little room for the sump and so it will need to be very shallow. I had a look at a Caterham Vauxhall today at Curborough sprint and this was wet sumped. Asked the owner and he said it has a foam filled sump with no other baffling. Checked on the web and this is correct.

My question is, has anybody done this and is normal MIL spec fuel tank foam ok for the job? Problems I can see are that is breaks down at high temp or that the oil does not flow freely enough through it when it is cold.

The Vauxhall engine uses a crank scraper/windage tray as standard so this will stop the foam hitting the crank. Basically the foam will pack between the windage tray and the sump base.

Any ideas?

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
Peteff

posted on 10/5/04 at 08:35 AM Reply With Quote
A use for old 3 piece suites at last. Did he tell you what kind of foam it is? It would have to be very coarse to let cold oil flow freely. Does it need changing from time to time as it will probably clog like a filter.





yours, Pete

I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
JAG

posted on 10/5/04 at 08:41 AM Reply With Quote
Caterham fit a foam baffle in the sump of some of their cars. Perhaps you could buy one and cut it to fit your sump?????





Justin


Who is this super hero? Sarge? ...No.
Rosemary, the telephone operator? ...No.
Penry, the mild-mannered janitor? ...Could be!

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
dannyboy
Junior Builder






Posts 19
Registered 4/5/04
Location Hove
Member Is Offline

Photo Archive Go!
Building: rebuilding..again..caterham 7..150,000mile service

posted on 10/5/04 at 01:14 PM Reply With Quote
Caterham use foam baffles in their sumps, I recently replaced mine. however, their have been several horror stories of these things disintegrating and blocking the oil pick up. Peter Carmichael, K-series guru and builder of 250bhp 1.8, suggests that he never fits one and has no problems. It may be a better idea if using for the track, to fit an Anti-cavitation tank (approx £200) rather than rely on a fairly open piece of sponge. TBH on the road, under normal conditions I would be suprised if any kit car of any description pull enough lateral G to cause a problem with oil pick up, but obviously this will depend on the depth of sump used. Caterham sell these baffles for about £15 but it's a bloody expensive bit of foam IMO. I wont bother again!
View User's Profile E-Mail User View All Posts By User U2U Member
ned

posted on 10/5/04 at 01:31 PM Reply With Quote
NS Dev,

Incase you're putting ARP bolts in your vx (which most people do) the windage tray won't fit as the heads of the bolts are bigger than the standard vx ones and foul it. From first hand experience, we didn't notice til the engine was fully assembled, then tried to figure out why the crank didn't turn all the way round and went clunk at the bottom..

Ned.





beware, I've got yellow skin

View User's Profile E-Mail User Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
NS Dev

posted on 10/5/04 at 04:26 PM Reply With Quote
Ahh, thanks for all the help. I did wonder about the foam, certainly from looking around on the web it seems that Caterham owners change it pretty often. I was going to use fuel tank foam which should be resistant to the oil and has big open cell structure. It is also available pretty cheaply from Rally Design.

Having said all that, having read the above concerns, adn considered my own concerns, I am thinking about just copying the Westy sump baffles (thanks for the pics Ned)

Only other thing Ned, I use a Vauxhall XE 16v in my grasser (as you have probably seen in my photo archive) and on this I use ARP bolts with the windage tray and had no problems? Did you use a sump gasket above and below it? If so then maybe there are different trays because I had no problem there at all (although as you say the ARP bolts are a bit bigger at the head end.)

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
Stu16v

posted on 14/5/04 at 09:05 PM Reply With Quote
quote:

Only other thing Ned, I use a Vauxhall XE 16v in my grasser (as you have probably seen in my photo archive) and on this I use ARP bolts with the windage tray and had no problems? Did you use a sump gasket above and below it? If so then maybe there are different trays because I had no problem there at all (although as you say the ARP bolts are a bit bigger at the head end.)



I didnt have have probs with mine either. Deffo ARP bolts Ned?





Dont just build it.....make it!

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member

New Topic New Poll New Reply


go to top






Website design and SEO by Studio Montage

All content © 2001-16 LocostBuilders. Reproduction prohibited
Opinions expressed in public posts are those of the author and do not necessarily represent
the views of other users or any member of the LocostBuilders team.
Running XMB 1.8 Partagium [© 2002 XMB Group] on Apache under CentOS Linux
Founded, built and operated by ChrisW.