Oiling Issues

[Nismo_Freak]

Why does no one make a good oil pan for the KA engine.

If you made the oil sump itself wider like the aftermarket SR pans then you wouldn't have to bother with all the shoddy kung-fu oil return setups. I don't recall anything physically blocking the pan from becoming wider.

This would also allow you to run MORE oil capacity which any SR/KAT/CA really does need. Keeping oil temps cooler without the usage of a oil cooler, and keeping the oil cleaner, longer.

The KA even has an upperhand in that the lower pan is steel. This means you could easily modify the stock sump with simple sheet steel and a MIG welder.

Why risk blowing up engines and turbos when a fix is possible?

[Ubernoober]

It would be a good fix too. Very common in domestic V8's. Just remember to baffle the wider sump correctly, or when you corner you will starve the engine for oil as it all sloshes to one side.

[4felix20]

it's all about materials and tools. if you make it happen, you could probably make some nice $$$$. bolt on, improved, oil-tapped and bunged pans at a cheap/reasonable price would be something alot of people may buy.

i'd buy one for the cooling effect alone.

[WDRacing]

Very interesting idea Alan...I never really contemplated that before. It would be pretty easy to cut an weld on some side extensions and insert a baffle on the inside. The you could have the return line tap into the top of the extension, which would be ideal for a gravity return system. You could also improve the oil pump pickup at the same time. Using a muti-port suction tube. So you could have two pickups allowing you to draw oil from both side of the engine. Or maybe just baffles....lol.

WD

[Nismo_Freak]

Very interesting idea Alan...I never really contemplated that before. It would be pretty easy to cut an weld on some side extensions and insert a baffle on the inside. The you could have the return line tap into the top of the extension, which would be ideal for a gravity return system. You could also improve the oil pump pickup at the same time. Using a muti-port suction tube. So you could have two pickups allowing you to draw oil from both side of the engine. Or maybe just baffles....lol.

WD

I would run baffles to minimize the complication factor. Since you will be driving around corners, in an extreme condition the extra pick-up could begin to intake air which would frothe the oil that is coming up the tube, and it also would lower oil pick-up due to air being easily evacuated compared to the much heavier oil.

[Structure240sx]

i have thought about this for a while. i have meant to get an extra pan and have my uncles machine shop make me something. i just keep letting the idea slip away. its a shame greddy doesnt make a pan for us like for the sr guys.

there was talk maybe a year ago or so on ka-t.org that rick was working with a company to make an oil pan and a few other things. i guess it never happened

[Nismo_Freak]

i have thought about this for a while. i have meant to get an extra pan and have my uncles machine shop make me something. i just keep letting the idea slip away. its a shame greddy doesnt make a pan for us like for the sr guys.

there was talk maybe a year ago or so on ka-t.org that rick was working with a company to make an oil pan and a few other things. i guess it never happened

There has to be a KA24E pan out there with the GT3 cars running those engines, but I'm sure those will be way out of your price range.

Honestly I don't think the Greddy pans are all that nice.

This is a nice SR oil pan, something I think you guys should strive to build.





If you guys want a nice manufacturer for oil pans in the US then hit up these guys: http://www.z10eng.com/

[4felix20]

god that would be so easy to weld up....

[Nismo_Freak]

god that would be so easy to weld up....

Not really... there are some weird angles in an oil pan.

[s13sr20chris]

yeah, and you have to strip the paint and try to paint it back up afterwards. i tried that and its a huge pain. the pain for oil systems(glyptal) is expensive too.

[WDRacing]

If you strip it and etch the surface do you still need expensive paint??

Does anyone have a spare oil pan I can have or buy for a decent price to start working on this. I have a bunch of mild steel sheet just waiting to get played with. Also, anyone have any idea of exactly how thick the pan is, I'm to lazy to crawl underneath with a dial caliper.

WD

[Structure240sx]

im sure a sand blaster would strip the paint off in no time flat

[WDRacing]

Yeah, my problem aint with removing the paint...I just didn't know you needed a different type of paint for the oil pan. Although my Rustoleum is holding up good on the 240 so far...Maybe I'll just press to test.

[TheOne]

i did remove all the paint from mine then painted it black(500F gloss black) and i still have it, no rust anywhere or things like that.(on the outside, dunno if you need paint on the inside,lol)

i may have a spare oil pan, but i gotta check on that WD.

[WDRacing]

Do that, I'll buy it from ya.

[Nismo_Freak]

If you strip it and etch the surface do you still need expensive paint??

Does anyone have a spare oil pan I can have or buy for a decent price to start working on this. I have a bunch of mild steel sheet just waiting to get played with. Also, anyone have any idea of exactly how thick the pan is, I'm to lazy to crawl underneath with a dial caliper.

WD

Just cut the pan when you get it.

If I had to guess I'd say it's about 3mm

[Nismo_Freak]

yeah, and you have to strip the paint and try to paint it back up afterwards. i tried that and its a huge pain. the pain for oil systems(glyptal) is expensive too.

Just cadmium plate it.

Thats what Tomei did to theirs from the look of it.

[veilside180sx]

Yeah I figured because of the GT3 cars I'd find one too, but to no avail. I think on my rebuilt block I might tap it for the return like everyone with a NA SR does. So it can run full oil capacity, in the meantime of looking into a new pan. Although if it works for a DE, I guess it'd work for my E too.

[s13sr20chris]

Just cadmium plate it.

Thats what Tomei did to theirs from the look of it.

good call. a buddy of mine is helping me fab up a pan for my sr. we are going by the pics of the tomei and greddy pans. i wanted stainless for the above reason and durability. he wants thick sheet aluminum as he says it will dent instead of shattering like a cast pan.

[AZhitman]

I got a spare pan we can mess with Brian.

My only caveat - It goes on MY car when we're done.

[Nismo_Freak]

good call. a buddy of mine is helping me fab up a pan for my sr. we are going by the pics of the tomei and greddy pans. i wanted stainless for the above reason and durability. he wants thick sheet aluminum as he says it will dent instead of shattering like a cast pan.

Thick aluminum runs more of a risk of cracking than sheet thin steel.

[WDRacing]

I got a spare pan we can mess with Brian.

My only caveat - It goes on MY car when we're done.

Deal, if it doesn't work out to well it's your motor that dies from oil starvation...lol.

[s13sr20chris]

Thick aluminum runs more of a risk of cracking than sheet thin steel.

yeah, i know. hes into the aluminum thing. i will be content knowing it is better than cast aluminum(greddy and ebay) pans.