David Jenkins
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| posted on 28/6/03 at 09:18 PM |
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A lesson learned...
... decide whether you want to shorten your sump BEFORE fitting the engine and gearbox into the chassis!
The history was that I thought everything was fine until I took a critical look under the car, and realised that I had barely 3 inches of ground
clearance.
I got a spare sump from timf (Ta!) and shortened it, then thought it would be a simple task to swap them over - unfortunately, I discovered that I had
to split the engine and gearbox before I could reach all the bolts. 
Took me a day to swap the sumps over...
Never mind - I now have 4-and-a-bit inches of ground clearance... 
cheers,
David (who's now knackered after wriggling under his car for 7 or 8 hours today)
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chrisg
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| posted on 28/6/03 at 09:26 PM |
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Ouch!
Which engine is it you're using David?, just for information.
Cheers
Chris
Note to all: I really don't know when to leave well alone. I tried to get clever with the mods, then when they gave me a lifeline to see the
error of my ways, I tried to incite more trouble via u2u. So now I'm banned, never to return again. They should have done it years ago!
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paulf
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| posted on 28/6/03 at 09:36 PM |
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I found the same but took the easyway and removed the engine and box. It might have been possible on mine as i made the spacer plate between the
engine and gearbox in two pieces, meaning I can remove the bottom section to get easyier access to the rear sump bolts.
Paul.
quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
... decide whether you want to shorten your sump BEFORE fitting the engine and gearbox into the chassis!
unfortunately, I discovered that I had to split the engine and gearbox before I could reach all the bolts.
Took me a day to swap the sumps over...
Never mind - I now have 4-and-a-bit inches of ground clearance...
cheers,
David (who's now knackered after wriggling under his car for 7 or 8 hours today)
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 29/6/03 at 07:09 PM |
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chrisg:
It's a crossflow with a Mk 9 box. The two rear sump bolts are hidden by the bellhousing cover plate.
paulf:
A split spacer plate sounds like a very good idea! I dropped one of the sump bolts (twice ) and the fell into the rim of the flywheel.
They took a while to recover!
Unfortunately I have decided that I have to remove the sump once again - I was getting a bit knackered and made a bad decision, to bend the oil pickup
pipe to fit the shortened sump. On reflection I realised that I've probably squashed the strainer, possibly up against the end of the pipe. I
did try to see if I could unsolder the strainer so that I could shorten the pipe, but it seems to be both crimped and brazed onto the pipe.
How have other people shortened the pipe?
At least I know that I can do this in less than an hour - I've worked out all the necessary techniques now!
cheers,
David
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paulf
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| posted on 29/6/03 at 09:25 PM |
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I shortened my pickup pipe by cutting a section out of the middle of it and then turned a sleeve to fit over the top of it and silver soldered.due to
the shape of the pipe i could only just cut enough out of the straight bit in the middle. It might be almost as easy to make a new pipe complete with
a bit of 1/2 inch pipe.
Paul.
quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
paulf:
How have other people shortened the pipe?
At least I know that I can do this in less than an hour - I've worked out all the necessary techniques now!
cheers,
David
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James
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| posted on 30/6/03 at 03:20 PM |
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David,
Did you mig weld the sump? Or is it too thin? I was wondering if it needed to be brazed?
Thanks,
James
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 30/6/03 at 03:41 PM |
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James,
I started with a MIG, but as you say, it is very thin stuff. I welded as much as I could, but started blowing holes in a few places where the metal
was quite a bit less than 1mm. I ended up getting a mate to use his oxy-acetylene kit to run braze over the inside of the joint (should make it a bit
stronger as well).
If I was doing it again I'd take a piece of plate, beat the edges to make a close fit to the body of the sump, then braze it all up.
Anyway, I've been taking a few pictures as I've going along, and hope to make up a page on my website - when I've got a bit of
time.
cheers,
David
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paulbeyer
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| posted on 30/6/03 at 10:47 PM |
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James,
I thought a man of your caliber would have a go at TIG welding it.
7 out of 10 people suffer with hemorrhoids. Does that mean the other 3 enjoy them?
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James
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| posted on 1/7/03 at 08:36 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by paulbeyer
James,
I thought a man of your caliber would have a go at TIG welding it.
Apart from it being too bloody slow I might well- problem is, is that college has finished for the summer! 
How will I cope?!!!
That only leaves me with my Mig at home.
Cheers,
James
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paulf
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| posted on 1/7/03 at 09:18 PM |
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I mig welde mine using .6 wire and 18 guauge for the new bottom plate. I left the new bottom about 1.5mm larger all round than the sump so as to have
an edge to weld to, by welding a bit at a time and carefully nocking the plate down flat as i welded i had no real problems with burn through.
Paul.
quote:
Originally posted by James
quote:
Originally posted by paulbeyer
James,
I thought a man of your caliber would have a go at TIG welding it.
Apart from it being too bloody slow I might well- problem is, is that college has finished for the summer!
How will I cope?!!!
That only leaves me with my Mig at home.
Cheers,
James
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 2/7/03 at 09:50 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by paulf
I mig welde mine using .6 wire and 18 guauge for the new bottom plate. I left the new bottom about 1.5mm larger all round than the sump so as to have
an edge to weld to, by welding a bit at a time and carefully nocking the plate down flat as i welded i had no real problems with burn through.
Paul.
I think my problem was that I'd used 16 gauge for the new base, and welding that to sheet metal the thickness of a baked bean tin was almost
beyond my skill! I did successfully weld 98% of the way round, but one or two very thin bits defeated me. I had also set myself the objective of
keeping the outside of the sump smooth to help it survive accidental knocks (nothing to catch onto) but that just made things harder!
The brazing filled those holes in, and also reinforced the joint all round.
As I said before, I'd pre-shape the new base and braze it if I had to do it again.
David
P.S. The next session under the car is likely to be this coming weekend! This is to 'cut and sleeve' the oil pickup pipe. Hopefully it
won't be as much of a trial as last time - I have the sump removal process firmly fixed in my mind now!
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 7/7/03 at 07:37 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
P.S. The next session under the car is likely to be this coming weekend! This is to 'cut and sleeve' the oil pickup pipe. Hopefully it
won't be as much of a trial as last time - I have the sump removal process firmly fixed in my mind now!
In the end it took me just 4 hours, instead of the original 8... then, in the evening, I realised that I'd put the gaskets on the wrong way...
 On Sunday, it took me 2 hours to get the sump off and on again...
Carry on like this and I'll be getting the job done before I start!
Looks good now, though.
David
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