Pineapple Racing has developed an aluminum sump (oil pan) for FCs. I am letting people know that we may be organizing a group buy on these for $299 each, plus shipping. If you are interested, or just want more info, please go to the following thread in the "Group Buy Interest" section and let us know if you want us to proceed with the GB. If so, I will contact the authorities and set it up. The pans should be ready to ship by the end of next week.

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showthread.php?t=487172

BTW, the Alternator Relocation Bracket group buy is winding down, so if you want in you better hurry up. After December 31st, you will only be able to buy them from us retail. Link to GB thread: https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...&page=13&pp=15 and look particularly at the summary of pricing on post 184 on page 13.

--
Blake Qualley
Pineapple Racing

 

does it use an oil ring or a gasket???

 

What would this benefit?

 

O-ring!

 

All that info is in the link to the GBI section, but I'll repeat it here:

Features:
• High quality cast aluminum with machined mating surface
• Higher capacity (exact measurement pending, but physically as large as possible without exposure below cross-member).
• Cooling fins cast into bottom
• O-ring sealing for leak-free use as well as ease of installation and removal
• Double drain holes make it easier to drain sump completely
• Thick flange contributes to engine stiffness (yes, really)
• Stainless steel windage tray to reduce oil aeration
• Vertical baffles to prevent cornering starvation
• Includes o-ring, windage tray with baffles, drain plugs, and new, longer fasteners for both the flange and the engine mounts
• Cool enough to leave on your coffee table in your living room for 6 months until you get around to installing it

 

Here is an illustration of the windage tray, which is getting CNC laser cut tomorrow.

 

I think what sonic rat means is how does this benefit then engine, and not your eyes

Im pretty sure that having more oil available for the system is beneficial to a couple things.

-Less oil changing
-For turbo engines, less of a chance of getting coked bearings.
-The pan itself seems to slightly cool the oil a little better.

I can't really think of anything else. Someone correct me if im wrong btw..

 

Look two posts up.

 

nice, but being that deep makes it look like it would be harder to reach some of the bolts

 

Too bad that thing will end up buried in the engine after it's installed.
It's almost too nice to use!


-Ted

 

that is a really nice oil pan, me likes, the fin to prevent oil starvation is coool b/c i've been seeing that oil light alot lately from tight cornering.

 

Well the best thing (IMO) is the O ring.

Finally you will have an oil pan that seals even with the motor mount through it.

 

Nice oil pan but that price for an aluminum casting is outrageous. I bet a considerable amount of that cost is in that overly flashy windage tray. What is the point of the graffics? It goes in the engine to never be seen again. They make a part that can be cheaply stamped out into an expensive laser cut part.

Is that thing fully solutioned and artifically aged after casting? Also what alloy is it?

Do you have any R&D data to show its advantages? And is engine stiffness a problem with these cars?

 

I'd be interested in one...why make such a nice design for the windage tray if noone can see it unless you pull the oil pan off the car?

 

Man... if only I wasn't going overseas for 3 years this month..... I'll try to get one of those when I get back though. Do you make a 20b version?


btw: And is engine stiffness a problem with these cars?

What do you think people wast there time w/dowel pinning a motor for?! Read up on it, only needed for high HP applications though.

 

Stay away from aluminum oil pans. Aluminum oil pans and vehicles with low ground clearance don't mix. Al will crack if it hits road debris, steel will just dent.

The risk is not worth it. My other car has an Al oil pan and about 1 1/2 months ago I ran over some threads from a rethreaded truck tire that shreeded them on the road. It cracked my Al oil pan.

 

Solution: Make a steel skidplate or use the one that may have been on the car from the factory.

 

I've punched holes in stamped steel pans. Anything that can damage an aluminum pan, will damage a steel pan.

My issues:
If the pan is deeper, do you have a longer oil pump pickup?
Is there a trap door or baffle to keep all that oil from sloshing away from the stock pickup?

Don't complain about price. Noone(?) else makes one for the FC3S.
Take a look at what a stamped steel competition(MFR??) pan costs:
http://www.mazdatrix.com/getprice.as...m=01-7102-0000
other rotary pans:
http://www.moroso.com/catalog/catego...?catcode=12119
http://www.moroso.com/catalog/catego...?catcode=11116

 

Someone has never looked under a FC at the oil pan.

The oil pan is way up there protected by the front subframe. And on the 86-87 Sport, 88 GTU and 88 Turbo, there is a alum cover/sheild for the oil pan.

 

ditto, should have saved some money to the people to buy other parts rather than adding price to the part by including unnecessary graphics and machining time.

 

That really doesn't add much of anything to the production cost. Besides, there is nothing wrong with adding your own personal touch to a part that you have designed and produced from scratch.

fwiw, those other oil pans don't have an o-ring in them either.
I've never had a problem with leaky oil pans but I sure do hate scraping and scouring off old silicone and then having to apply new stuff.

 

OK...

Here's the dilly yo..

Zkeller had a similar Oil pan on his FD.. made by another company...

Nice..... held a quart more oil, and had the cooling fins and the o-ring

BUT.. there is one problem with the O-Ring and it doesn't have anything to do with the PAN...

If your MOTOR is not decked properly on the bottom.. IE if the plates and housings don't line up on the mating surfaces properly.... the O-ring will not seal properly... and it will LEAK like a stuck pig.....

Like I said.. has NOTING to do with the pan and can be solved by a dab of RTV on the offending jiont.

I'm In on this one

and to whoever said that was too much money.... Ummm.. I thought that was pretty CHEAP... you know how much R&D time had to go into making that thing???? Yeah, casting aluminim is cheaper than cutting it from billet... BUT.. the only way you can make them cheaper is to MASS PRODUCE THEM... were talking THOUSANDS of units so that the TOTAL gross income from the sales of the unit will offset the cost of the R&D phase...

We all know, they won't be selling enough of these to make it profitable if the price was any lower... WHY.. not that many FC's out there WITH owners willing to drop the cash on a bitchin oil pan... (thats also why you don't see many other products for the FC... cheap assed FC owners!!!!)

 

Okay, lot's of questions. I'll ignore the ones trying to stir up **** over cost...I don't see you making a $99 Wal*Mart special, so bite your tounge. Buy it or don't buy it, but please don't tell us what our costs are or suggest that we should operate as a non-profit. People invariably underestimate cost and vastly overestimate profit. And, the graphics on the windage tray hardly added anything to our cost...a couple bucks a unit, maybe. Lasers are FAST and we needed the drainage anyway. It would have been absurdly expensive on a waterjet. But, I digress...

Yes, the o-ring is a huge benefit. The windage tray is recessed into the pan, as well, so you don't end up with a gasket sandwich, as you would on a conventional oil pan.

The added volume is mainly from having the pan squared-off at the bottom, rather than rounded. This means the stock pick-up still reaches the bottom. The vertical baffles help keep the oil near the pick-up on cornering.

The pan is still fully protected by the crossmember...that's why it's not deeper than it is. And, as well as being a very thick, dense casting, those fins add quite a bit of strength too. Not saying it would be impossible to hole one but it's no more likely than it would be with a conventional stamped pan.

Engine flex is mainly a problem for high-horsepower applications, starting around 300bhp, but in any application the increased stiffness can help prolong bearings. Engine flex is one of the reasons your stock oil pans leak so badly in the first place. Have you ever noticed that dry-sump engines have an unusually thick aluminum plate in place of the oil pan -- way thicker than necessary for the pick-ups? That's to stiffen the engine. Here's an example:



Have I answered everything? Again, if you don't like the cost please don't buy one and likewise if you don't see the advantages. This mod is not for everybody and I don't particularly need to hear that you do not intend to buy one. Of the 155,380 RX-7s sold from 1986 to 1991, we can only accomodate thirty with this first batch of pans.

--
Blake

 

I dont think very much R&D weninto making that thing otherwise they would be able to say exactly how much oil it could hold. Thats why I asked.

Also how much do you know about aluminum casting? I happen to know a lot since I took a class on it last spring and as independent study over the summer. I toured a casting facility which taught me a lot. Also my project in the class was developing a sand casting pattern of a turbo charger exhaust housing prototyped in aluminum and also creating the mold neccesary to create the core for the internal void. After I had made all my own tooling I loaded a furnace packed sand molds and cast parts. If anyone wants to see picture of this **** as proof IM me at tonybcrazy on aim and ill send em. Anyways green sand casting is the least expensive casting process and is used for such parts.

I really dont want to get into a flamefest but or a internet dick sizing contest but the facts are that that doesn't appear to have a lot of R&D in it nor does it have any features that are worthwhile to justify that cost. A welded aluminum pan would also stand a better chance of just deforming when hit by something rather than cracking / shattering. Also unless that thing has been properly heat treated there is no way in hell it will add any stiffness to anything because as cast aluminum has very poor material properties. And lastly I know that typical markup on performance car parts is 400%.

 

That is a pic of the sump plate and dry sump front cover from my 20b engine that Rob built