Friday, April 30, 2004

Resolving the oil feed pipe problem

I've had a very busy week with some long days so I haven't had either the time or inclination to do much to the car. But the many hours I spent hacking up and down the motorways have given me time to think up a solution for my oil feed problem. Two possible solutions in fact.

Option 1. I've had Pace send me a couple of short lengths of bent tube, 2 weld on -10 male fittings and a steel mounting plate and O ring that matches the dry sump. My plan is to remove the bolted on aluminium -10 port on the sumps HP inlet, and replace it with a rigid tube which relocates the -10 fitting to a more accessible location. If I use pre bent tube, the bend radius is much tighter and I may be able to clear the chassis rail.

So tonight, I've spent a couple of hours measuring, cutting, fettling and welding this piece of tube.

It should move the HP input away from the chassis rail, and clear all the scavenge pipes too. Tomorrow I'll paint it up and fit it to the sump, unfortunately I may have to take the engine out to get it properly bolted in place. As you can see from the second picture the tube exits the flange at a angle which should hopefully lift it above the chassis tube.
I'll also thoroughly examine it for pin holes and other flaws, as I'm basically betting my engine on my ability to weld this tube together.

Option 2
If the tube fails to fit then I can remove the heat exchanger from the block and using a remote filter take off plate mount the heat exchanger & filter unit somewhere in the engine bay. I can the take the HP feed to the heat exchanger and filter in -10 hose and then feed the block at the filter union with another filter take off plate but this time with one of the bores blocked off.
The heat exchanger and filter is fitted with an M20x1.5 thread. Which coincidentally matches my MI16 engine's heat exchanger, so if I need filters or take off plates anything suitable for a Pug MI16\ 205 1.9GTI will fit.


Option 3
Is to use a remote air-air oil cooler and remove the heat exchanger completely, but this will likely cost 300+ GBP so this is definitely the option of last resort. However monster oil temps may force me down this way anyway, but I won't know that until testing starts.

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