I'm looking for an oil pan for autox and track racing. One that isn't so deep so my engine doesnt' die of oil starvation.

 

going to a less deep pan should actually make it worse. You really shouldn't be having starvation problems. You may want to check out racing beats site and buy their baffle plate. that should help some.

 

http://www.iscracing.net/engine.htm

 

I'm having the same problem when doing hard right hand sweepers in my n/a 2nd gen (autocross). Sounds like the baffle plate is soon to come, though it seems like something that could be done in the garage.

 

Sweet. That's what I was looking for. Thanks, Reflux.

 

Get your self an accusump because they work and are cheaper than a racing oil pan. You can't blow holes in them, or drag the bottom off when you go off track. They last forever and can be moved to your new car someday. DICK

 

Please elaborate

 

Accusump is an aprox 4" dia x 18" long steel tube with a piston inside. You put say 60 psi of air pressure into one end of the accusump. Start your motor and the AN line running from the accusump to the engine will allow your oil to flow into the accusump . AT 60psi of oil pressure the piston in the accusump will move to the middle of the accusump. You now have oil on one side and air on the other side of the accusump piston. 60# of oil pressure working against 60# of air pressure. If you should lose oil pressure for any reason, the piston will move toward the oil side and bring the oil pressure back up. They have different models that hold up to 3 qts. If you don't figure out somethings wrong by the time the 3 qts is used up, you shouldn't be racing in the first place. Summit and Jegs has them for less than $200.

 

Redwood,
I think it would be quite easy to make a baffle plate.
1. Find a digital photo of a baffle plate online.
2. Enlarge the photo until it is "life size."
3. Mark the holes off of the life size photo onto a sheet of aluminum and cut.

I have been planning to do this since I lost my last engine to oil starvation.

 

im in the process of doing exactly that...sounds like most are 1 mm aluminum. Should be easy enuff to find

--Paul

 

I'm thinking I may have this problem as well, last race I did with old stock suspension and race tires, the low oil light kept coming on... I know have a good suspension setup so we'll see. I was looking at the moroso pans and a couple different baffles.... good info here.

 

I will likely make a plate soon as I have tons of scrap aluminum sheets around.

I was thinking about the oil light coming on, though, and had a thought. I seem to have the problem only on sustained right turns. Obviously this is because oil is being pushed to one side of the pan. Keeping it in mind, I did some simple testing on an on-ramp. I noticed that when the light came on, my (aftermarket) oil pressure gauge remained constant. This leads me to believe that it is possibly just the low oil sensor that is being drained and the oil flow is still solid.

The problem here is I can't recall where that oil pressure light sensor is and my FSM is in my garage far away. That is also why I can't see under my car right now.

Anyway, if anyone has a thought on this, please chime in. I could be dead wrong here but I don't know enough to form a great conclusion. If I figure out anything conclusive, I will also report back.

 

Should be sustained turns to the left to cause the sender to come on, the oil will pool to the right side of the pan. Otherwise, you've hit the nail on the head, I ignore the oil level light, check oil level before you go out and make sure you've got good oil pressure during the race.

PaulC

 

This is what i thought, it's on long left turns......anyway anyone thought of 'swinging gate baffles?'

 

dry sump : )

 

Did you click on that link Reflux posted? THey've got a baffled pan. 95 bucks.

Seriously though, I haven't run into an issue yet with oil starvation.. The oil level sender is in a bad spot.

PaulC

 

Yeah, I'm thinking that it must just be the sender after trying a couple of turns today. I wasn't able to get it on rights and when I did get it on lefts my pressure didn't change. Sounds like no worries for me.

However, a neat fix would be to create a swinging oil pickup for the engine. We ran into the problem on a Formula SAE car and that was our solution (a sump system added a lot of complexity and weight). Neat idea and useful, but only necessary under really high G loads.

Thanks for the comments, glad to feel a little more secure in hard corners

 

I just got the RB baffle and two new pan gaskets. Haven't put it in yet. One concern I have is that according to Racing Beat's literature, it slows the drain-back of the oil.

Since I don't see the pressure fluctuate on sweepers, but the low oil buzzer comes on, the baffle would make it worse. I added an extra quart to the engine, we'll see how that works...

 

And you came to this conclusion...how?


-Ted

 

This was on the literature (instruction sheet) that came with the baffle. It states that this will slow the return of oil to the pan, so extra oil will be needed, but don't overfill to the point that the counterweight aerates the oil by dipping into it.

Sounds strange to me, too. I know that too much oil in a conventional engine results in the crankshaft picking up and slinging oil around (splash oiling) which can create bubbles in the oil.

 

Hey NoPistns,
Would you be willing to photo copy the baffles so others could make our own?

 

Hey Kill No Cone,

Here is a link to the Racing Beat site. Select Oil System from the drop-down list. Click on the Oil Baffle plate link. When you move your cursor over the picture it should give you a set of icons including save, print, and e-mail. select the save. Then open it in Photo Editor. You should be able to enlarge it and print it.

Of course the honorable thing to do is drop the $51.50 for the baffle and another $28 for a pair of pan gaskets.

If you have a 1st gen, the plate looks different even if you have the 13B in your 1st gen because the pans are different (second gen pass side motor mount bolts thru the bottom of the pan - 1st gen doesn't).

 

We don't recommend using stock Mazda OEM oil pan gaskets with the RB oil baffle plate, especially two of them.

The stock bolts are not long enough for the extra thickness, and you risk the chance of stripping them.


-Ted

 

One of the sites - either MazdaTrix or RB recommended the second gasket to seal. If I only use one gasket, should it be between the pan and the baffle, or the baffle and the block?

 

One of the sites - either MazdaTrix or RB recommended the second gasket to seal. If I only use one gasket, should it be between the pan and the baffle, or the baffle and the block?