The V8 Owners Forum -

Hi Gentlemen,
Was putting my new engine together this afternoon,and when come to put the sump on thought i would check to make sure the sump is'nt to close to the pick up.This appears to be the case The sump i am using is a trap door modified SD1 type,bit wary beating out the bottom of the sump in case of cracking it!Do you think there is any harm in cutting dowm the skirt around the pick up?leaving the areas that secure the strainer alone.I have about 3-4 mm (not including the sump gasket) Is there alternative sump gaskets available other than cork ie. rubber type material?If so from where?
Thank you for any help,
John.

RTV (Room temperature vulcanising) sealent is available in big gun tubes like bathroom sealent, or small glue-tubes.
It's applied in a thick-ish bead around the sump face, and then bolted up to the block, but not to full torque. Allow to set for a couple of hours (longer if cold and wet) then torque fully.
This is what I did and it took me 3 (failed) attempts at getting a seal with a cork gasket, but with RTV it sealed first time.
P.S mating faces must be clean and dry first.
It won't end up any different thickness to the cork gasket really, so I can't help with your clearance issues sorry!

Where did you get the RTV in tubes?

Chris

Have a guess... ebay!!! If it's not been sold on ebay, it doesn't exist!
It was a while ago so I can't find a link, but I'm sure it was 'comma' branded.

What is a trap door sump?
I'm forever dinging the bottom of mine is when I shift the engine around. I just ping it out with a rubber mallet.

Hi,
My particular sump has a section added on the N/S which has a trap door to control oil flow through it and also has the rear most area of the sump also divided into 2 compartments with trap doors.There is also 2 flaps to control oil in and out of the well which the pick up sits.It came with a shed load of parts i brought of a circuit racer who was having a clear out.
I think the rubber mallet/block of wood may be the way forward.
Cheers John.

Any less than 10mm or 3/8 inch clearance between the bottom of the sump and the bottom of the pickup is asking for trouble

Mark

On one of the engines I'm building at the mo, the oil strainer touches the btm of the sump & wont allow the sump to seat on the btm of the block properly (you can see damage on the mesh & scratches on the inside of the sump where they have rubbed together) I was thinking of drilling holes around the side of the strainer, does any one have any other suggestions?? I didn’t want to bend the pipe in case I kinked it.

Any less than 10mm or 3/8 inch clearance between the bottom of the sump and the bottom of the pickup is asking for trouble

Mark

Why would it cause problems? does there need to be a 10mm gap to allow enough flow? or is it to stop the stainer & sump from vacuming themselves together??
I looked @ an old engine I have and the strainer is much closer than 10mm (prob 3 at the most) but then again that had a few bashes on the sump as well.
When the engine is running hard how much oil is there going to be in the btm of the sump?? Because surely if the pick up strainer is to high it will come out of the oil as the pump works harder and keep taking gulps of air?? Or perhaps im over estimating the amount of oil that will get pumped up to the top of the engine also I guess when the oil is hot it will run down fairly quick anyway?
Any thoughts

If the pickup is too tight to the sump it sticks itself to the sump seals up and hay presto no iol pressure (this is a bad thing!)
If you drill holes in the side it is one way out og tit but in the event of a blow up it will injest big bits of engine as well as little bits and do even more dammage. best route is to bend the pipe... use a blow tourch to heat the outside of the bends, use a big hammer as a heat sink on the inside and take it gently, you should be able to bend the pipe enough without buckling it. or get one of those plumbers flexible mandrels (like coil bound springs made of flat section wire) and use that (in this case dont use the fill it with sand and seal the ends trick!.
Mike

Hi,
Thats what i did last weekend,got a blow torch from Screw-Fix and very gently bent the pipe slightly at both curves,a little at a time,recheck and bend to ensure the pick-up is still horizontal and didnt kink.
Thanks for the input guys,
Cheers John.