Stupid Oil Change Question
 

I know this will come too close for my comfort to the annoying what oil should I use question, but how do you guys drain the oil out of a race type system. I have 2 oil coolers, 15 feet of line, remote oil filter, Accusump and baffle plate on my 13b. When I drain the pan, I only get about 3.5 quarts of oil. If I disconnect the line from the oil filter adaptor and blow air through it (horribly messy), I can get almost 7 quarts out. If I disconnect the coolers and drain them as well, I get just over 8 quarts.

To do a full change like this takes a couple of hours as the way I have the coolers mounted means I have to take off a ton of stuff in the front of my car and undo the coolers to get to the drain plugs. I feel it is important to swap out all the old oil as the pressure are fair more consistent with all fresh oil, its just such a pain. Maybe my head is full of rocks and I am missing something, but what do you guys do to get all the tired oil out?

Eric

hmmm i admit i have no really good ideas, but i will be happy to share the bad ones!

1. how realistic is it to just drain the sump more often? the idea being to just keep the 4 quarts you can't easily get to fresher.

2. my dad has this mercedes style oil sucker thing, you put the hose down the dipstick hole and suck the oil out. might it be better to suck instead of blow? (i was thinking spaceballs...)

3. could you add a fitting to let you drain the coolers easier?

Could you buy a AN adapter the same thread as the oil drain plug and thread a hose onto it to contain the mess? The circle track shops around me sell used AN fittings with short lengths of hose attached for $5 a pop. I wouldn't trust them for a race car, but for something used when the car is off the track like this would be perfect. It might reduce the spray if you could get the hose into your drain pan. The same could be done to any of your lines you spray out. -10AN to -10AN union, and the hose to your drain pan. You could even go as far as to put a "T" in one of the lower lines and use a metal -AN cap for the 3rd end when the car us running. Uncap it and allow the oil to drain that way.

Now those are cool ideas and I like them a lot. I knew I could count on you guys.

Keep those ideas coming.


By the way, I love having to work on handling, fuel surge and oil drain issues again rather than why doesn't my car run clean and detonate issues, LOL.

Eric

Here is a shot of the car running hard at my last test day at Toronto Motorsport Park. If you look closely, you can see the dual oil coolers in the front. And yes I know I need more front camber and more rear spring, LOL.

Eric

I think we finally licked our fuel surge problems. We were able to run the tank to 1/4 full with no problems. What are you doing to rectify it?

the lazy way is just to loosen the drain plug and go for a drive! the drain plug fell out on the track once, right at start finish, and i made it to turn 6 before i figured out what happened, and there was still plenty of oil left in it...

the side benefit is that everyone at the event will critique your line so its a good chance to learn!

the tow truck driver wasn't mad either, in fact he said he'd done the same thing last week, so apparently i'm not the only one to do this.

actually even better, when we put the car up saw there was no drain plug; paul and i pointed at each other and yelled "that was your job!" in unison, so its good team building.

When we were running the extended tank, sectioned with a 3" band added to the middle, we extended the support for the fuel pump and added a ton of fuel cell foam to the tank to control sloshing. It worked okay and we could go down to about 2 gallons before we experienced fuel surge issues and then only in Turn 9 at Mosport. A great signal to come in on the next lap for a fuel stop.

I am now running the stock tank again with the gonzo 255 lph fuel pump. it doesn't have the filter sock on the end, but it is in same position. I am experiencing a fair amount of fuel surge in the tank again, so I am going to do the same thing and add a bunch of fuel cell foam bricks to the tank to try to dampen the big waves and see if it will help. I was getting fuel surge at anything less than 1/2 a tank, so I need to do something. I will let you know what I find out when I do this.

Another testing day is needed.......

Oh, I found a similar way to do the same method of oil draining, but in a far more embarrassing way. Imagine being at an INDYCAR Race as a support event and popping an oil hose as you drive down the pit lane. I still have shivers about it.

Eric

Eric

We did 2 things that seemed to cure the issue. We installed a a secondary fuel pump to fill the stock surge/sump. We clamped it to the stock baffling as far back and right as we could. Then we cut up some thinish sheet and extended the stock surge/sump to a total height of 7". We didn't have an issue in our last enduro and ran the tank down to approx 1/4 tank before fueling.

E

how hard is it to maybe put a different fitting on the oil cooler? or maybe take the big bolt and drill a hole in it so its got a drain plug?

I can do this already as I am running dual stock FC S4 oil coolers. The problem is that the way I have them mounted means that I can't get to them readily. I need to unbolt some ducting, then disconnect the upper cooler from the lines, then unbolt it, to give it enough clearance to access the drain plug. The lower one is in the stocj FC position, so thats just a pain, LOL.

I have actually found it way faster to just pull a line from the oil filter adaptor, then blow air through it until all the oil comes out. Its just messy and I worry about wear on the alu fittings.

Eric

Dzus fastener the whole front bumper :)

The whole front end is Dzus fastened, see picture attached. The stuff in question is the ducting to the rad and coolers and the stock Mazda support bar for the front end. I like the idea of replacing the 2 plugs in the coolers with fittings and hoses that I can just open to drain out. That would let me get 90% of the old oil out quickly. Some good ideas here.

Thanks

Eric

When I change mine, I take off the line feeding to the back of the motor and then spin the motor on the starter until clean oil starts to come out. If you direct the line into a large drain pan you should have no mess. Obviously you do this with the ignition off.

Ding, Ding, Ding, we have a winner. Simple and so easy I was stupid not to think of it. I can just thread an extension on the line and run it to the pan.

Gawd, I feel stupid to not have thought of it. I owe you one! I love this site for just this response.

Thanks a ton.

Eric

When I change engines, I pull the fitting off of the rear housing (the Last Piece of Plumbing before the oil actually goes into the engine) and blow the oil backwards, so it all goes into the oil pan.

This doesn't get the oil stuck in the rotors, but it at least clears the lines and cooler out.

Anal-retentive me USED to leave the car in gear and rotate the engine with the driveshaft to wobble as much oil out of the rotors as I could. Good-enough me now just changes the oil more frequently.

What lenght of dzus clip do you use? I'm trying to figure out what ill need for my stream body kit on my fc and don't want to order the wrong size