FB Oil Baffle Design - Just in Case
 

Just in case you have an FB . . .
And you track your car . . .
And your car chuffs a lot of oil . . .
And the sessions are long . . .
And you can't afford a dry sump . . .
And you don't want your oil level to run low.

So for the other person out there that cares, continue reading.

I ended up rebuilding my engine, and my pesky friend who is semi-retired kept asking me oil questions. Since I was waiting for some parts to put my front cover and oil pan on, I ended up with a lot of time and some crazy ideas, so I started working on a baffle system to fit inside my OEM GSL-SE oil pan to avoid oil starvation even at the end of relatively long track sessions (20 mins plus).

I looked at oil baffle designs for a number of cars, and it looks like the BMW M3 has one of the best OEM systems. It uses rubber trap doors to keep the oil in a reservoir near the oil pickup. I decided I could do something similar, so . . .

I debated what to make this thing out of, and I finally decided on aluminum that just sits in the pan for a few reasons:
1. I had plenty of it laying around
2. It's thick enough that it wouldn't deform while I made the pieces, which is important so my trap doors won't bind
3. Since it's not welded, it won't deform, once again so the trap doors won't bind
4. I can cut and form it marginally faster than steel
5. I have a "windage tray" to keep the thing in place

I bought aluminum piano hinges off eBay. It took a bit of work to make them swing freely. I removed the pin and turned it down a bit, and I also removed a little material from the back side of each swinging portion to reduce friction. Lastly, I used cotter pins to fix 'em in place on the side baffles. It wasn't necessary on the rear baffle, since the side baffles prevent the pin from sliding out.

I left a thin strip of aluminum on the side baffle doors that I bent downward to limit travel to about 45 deg. I didn't want the doors to flip all the way upward and get stuck in that position. The rear trap door hits the center hinge on the side baffles, effectively limiting its travel by the same amount.

The trap doors all swing freely, and there's no way they can get hung up on one another, since the rear door swings through a higher plane than the side ones.

I made a new flat baffle plate, that's slightly modified from my original Racing Beat part with restricted openings at the other locations, and a larger opening over the reservoir to direct the oil there.

I should have the car running in another couple of weeks. If you see me on the side of the road, it didn't work :lol:

Very creative!! Looking forward to how it works!!!

Ummm. Like. LOL! Lynn Hanover has a ton of mods to do for your oil system over on No Pistons.

Outstanding craftsmanship!!!! It's more art than car part, lol.

+1

I am amazed :) well partially because it 3am and I should be a sleep...
but mainly because I so want that for my car, even though my car has never seen the track and barely leaves the garage. Nice work man.

Thanks for the comments. I'm checking on the NoPistons info.

I'm taking bets on how long it'll take the oil to drain when I change it:).

http://www.nopistons.com/forums/topi...oil-pump-mods/
http://www.nopistons.com/forums/topi...every-rebuild/
There was one where he shows how to mod the oil pick up. Cant find it right now...

looks neat :)

Thanks for the Hanover links. Lots of stuff I never would have considered. I especially like the paper gasket for the oil pump to avoid aeration. I'd have to go with an o-ring, but regardless, whooda thunk?

You wanna make me one of those baffles please. :D Ship it UPS. I've got paypal!

I really would consider it, but I decided about halfway through that there's no commercial opportunity the way I did it. Just too many fine craftsmanship steps to make it work properly. I doubt there are many who would pay what it's worth in time and effort.

If you ever want to do something like it, others have used the BMW M3 rubber flaps. I'm sure those work fine, and they would eliminate a lot of extra work that was needed to get the hinges to swing freely.