Kahl

Morning all,

I have a couple of what I think are reasonably technical questions about the 12a oiling system. I'm asking because I'm thinking about building a dry sump setup on my 12aTD partially so I can get my engine lower and improve the engine/box attack angle (engine is in a 1969 Mazda 1500) and partially because I like fiddling with this stuff and enjoy learning a bit more about how this stuff all works. I have all the "skills" and equipment to fabricate most of what I need, the sump, tank, lines, fittings etc... which I plan on doing. That leaves the pump.... which are really expensive. This will not be a race/track car not even a regularly driven car, it's just a bit of a fun project.

So 12a oil system... My thinking is I want to be a tight ***** and NOT buy a full on external belt driven pump but use the normal internal pump and plumb the oil tank directly to that. This will require a bit of forethought in how I build the sump but that's just a metal fab issue. Given that, I will need a second pump to act as a scavenge pump and I am thinking about using some form of electric pump. My questions on this:

1. What is the peak volume that the factory under cover 12a oil pump flows? I understand the scavenge pump should be specced at 2-3x the flow volume of the pressure pump
2. Does anyone know of instances/examples of electric oil pumps being used for this purpose?

The next thing I am pondering is the sump construction, and wondering if I actually need a pan that covers the entirety of the bottom of the engine or not....:

1. Where does oil return to the pan? I assume the reglator at the back of the engine is one place but what about the front of the engine? Is it just seeping out of the front of the front stat gear and into the front cover?? Or is there some other path the oil takes to get back into the sump. This engine has no turbo or OMP, also no thermal pellet in the E-shaft (too early)

Looking forward to the replies and discussion
Cheers,
Karl