Raceline Wet Sump

I have never been entirely happy with my sump installation.  In particular, the fact that there is no baffling, with the consequent risk of oil surge when driving hard.  When building the car I had changed the standard Zetec oil pressure switch for a lower (15psi) version.  This at least should give some advance warning of oil pressure problems, but by the time it illuminates permanent damage to the engine may already have occurred.

In 2012 I did have one trip to Brands Hatch and one to Curborough Sprint Circuit.  While I had no oil pressure issues on these two occasions I started to think that I'd be pushing my luck with the three track sessions that I have booked this Spring.

So I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade to the Raceline wet sump.  This is very highly rated by those that use it.  It is even used on many race cars.  Most racers considering it to be good enough that at upgrade to a full dry sump installation is not even necessary.

The old sump was removed without any major problems.  Then it was time to start preparing the Raceline sump ready for installation.

Here is the main pan.  It is a very nice piece of engineering and you can see where the effort has been spent on the design, the casting and the machining.

Here is the Ford windage tray, Raceline windage tray and oil pick up pipe, etc.

First the oil pick up pipe is installed, with two rubber o-rings to make a seal into the main pan.  A metal filter gauze is inserted into this pipe from the outside of the sump.  This can be removed and cleaned at oil changes, if required.

Next the Raceline windage tray is bolted into place.  This windage tray is one of the methods used to control oil surge.

After that the Ford windage tray is bolted to the Raceline windage tray.  The Ford windage tray is designed to 'scrape' oil of the crank and con-rods.  Helping the oil to fall to the bottom of the sump and not be whipped up into the main engine block.

Standard Zetec Silvertop sump gasket fitted along with oil drain plug and gauze filter plug.  There is a double top hat spacer with rubber o-rings fitted that makes the oil seal between the sump pan and the engine oil pump.

The sump itself fits very well.  The main issue, and one which consumed a lot of time, was getting access to all the sump bolts.  Many are hidden by things like the starter motor, engine mounts, etc.

The old Tiger ERA sump was higher than the gearbox bellhousing.  The Raceline sump is level with the bellhousing.  The previous sump had around 100mm of ground clearance, but unfortutately the Raceline sump only has about 65mm.  This is too little, especially as the car is used a lot on country lanes, where there is often a raised centre to the road.  So the springs on the front dampers were wound up by 20mm.  Due to the geometry of the wishbones this translates to an increase in ride height of about 35mm, i.e. back to around  100mm under the sump.  Result.  I will take a look at the rear ride height as soon as I can and get the car leveled again.

Before running the engine for the first time I removed the plugs and rotated the engine by hand (socket set on crankshaft pulley).  I wanted to make sure that the Ford windage tray was not fouling the crankshaft or con-rods.  Next, I took the spark plugs out and cranked over the engine until the oil pressure light went out.  Once this was done it was time to fire up the engine and go for a test drive.  I'm happy to report that so far all appears to be working fine and there are no leaks.  Roll on the good weather and some track time!

Oil Pressure, ...Finally

Finally got an oil pressure reading, but it did cost me an oil filter...

Tonight's mission was to check the oil pressure:

Battery connected - check
Starter motor wiring okay - check.
Drive belt clear of obstructions - check.
Oil filled(!) - check
Spark plugs removed - check
Oil pressure gauge temporarily tee-ed in to oil pressure switch - check

Time to turn the key.  Click, whirrr.  All good.  More whirrring, no oil pressure.  Scratching of head.  Key turned again.  Click, whirrr.  Still no oil pressure.   Hmmmm.

Had a quick search on Locostbuilders.  Seems to be a not uncommon problem.  One solution is to prime the pump and the oil filter.  Tried this by pumping some oil down the oil filter threaded spindle.  Also half filled the oil filter.  Tried cranking again.  Still no joy.

Frustration building.  Then thought, let's just prime the pump via the oil filter inlet and crank over, with no oil filter fitted.  At this point past caring if the garage walls get sprayed with oil.

Tried cranking again.  Success!  Maybe it worked better when there was no back pressure on the pump?  Anyway, refitted the oil filter and cranked for longer.  Oil pressure built up steadily to around 40 to 50 PSI.  Job done.

Next job is to find a replacement oil filter.  In my haste I trashed the casing of the old one with my cheap chain  type oil filter wrench.

Tiger ERA Sump

Time to replace the tall original Focus sump with the shorter ERA sump from Tiger.  On the later Black Top Zetec engine both the steel sump pan and the alloy lower crank case need to be removed.  Here is the engine with just the sump pan removed.  Visible is the plastic oil pick-up pipe.  This cannot be shortened so will be replaced by a earlier steel pick-up pipe that has been modified by Tiger (chopped, shortened and welded).

 The lower crank case removed.

Four bolts in two of the main bearing end caps are replaced with Silver Top Zetec bolts that have a threaded stud on the top.  Tubular steel spacers are added to allow the windage tray to be at the right height.

The windage tray, again from an earlier Silver Top Zetec, is bolted on to the four studs using thread-locked M8 nuts.  The modified pick-up pipe is bolted on using a new gasket.  This pipe is attached to one of the studs via a mounting bracket.  Washers were used as spacers to get the right height (8-10mm from bottom of new sump).  This was checked using a ball of Plasticine.

 

On trial fitting the ERA sump fouls with the oil pump housing.  This means the sump bolt holes do not line up.  A curved recess is present on the original lower crank case (seen lower left).

A similar recess was made on the ERA sump using a round file.

Sump mounted using a new gasket and the original bolts tightened to the specified torque.

Once the car is on the road I'll think about adding some baffles to the sump to prevent oil starvation when driven hard, e.g. on the track.

The next problem is one of the engine mountings.  I had previously trimmed this to make if fit around the water pump housing.  Now with the new sump on the engine mount hits the sump edge before being flush with the mounting holes cast in the engine block.  If tightened in this state the engine mounts will 'push' the sump sideways and the large engine loads will be transmitted through the sump - not good.  Next job then is to trim a little of the lower edge of the engine mount.