Bigpower

The item in question:






Lets gets some facts established:

1) The guys are Area52Autosport (ScoobyMania) and I both liked the look of this being a short term solution to oil surge for my Time Attack car

2) The baffle tray was fitted my engine correctly

3) Cosworth USA have been very helpful and honest in the situation

4) Cosworth UK have not tested these

5) Cosworth USA have only tested them on the wide body modified sump they sell and tend to fit them as a package to track cars

6) The USDM cars do not have the narrow sump that mine and the spec c's have so their only chance of testing one would be if there was a JDM or EDM import into the states that just happened to require one for track duties. They are unaware of any.

7) Cosworth USA are going to do some more testing - please see the SN thread for the full story

8) JD's car differs from mine in that mine has a custom breather arrangement using the RCM catch can taking 3 inputs from the breathers, then vents to atmosphere. Any oil collected drains back to the sump - please see my blog for full pictures. (http://www.designdynamix.co.uk/blog)

9) JD's car worked perfectly with it on.

10) on mine it didnt - registering just 6PSI hot idle oil pressure


The long and short of it is:

- It is not going back on my car because I value the breather set up more as it will lose around 0.5 litre of oil to the catch tank a lap and not having this drain back to the sump would be disastrous.

- I would not recommend the plate if you have a breather set up that drains back to the sump

- If you havent got a breather set up like that and you feel the need for the plate then it will work as advertised (I would question which would be of greater benefit though)

- I will be getting a custom sump design that solves the problem of oil surge properly

hope you suss it soon Dunc.............

moved on

bigger and better solutions on the cards :lol:

It's very dissapointing that they put an item on general sale that hasn't been tested. It shouldn't be on sale if they don't know for sure that it works on a given application.

I would have expected better from Cosworth just because they are Cosworth, and i always thought that meant something special.

You live and learn!!

Latest Post from Eric Hsu at Cosworth USA

I spoke to several customers (shops) who have used the baffle plate both with the factory twin scroll sump and the 2004 non-twin scroll factory sump. They report no problems.

The Cosworth "big" sump is 1.5L larger than the factory sump. If in fact the oil was not draining back into the sump and staying above the baffle plate, all the large pan would do is delay the oil pump from sucking air for a short time. Stock sump or big sump, this drop in oil pressure has not occurred with any of our customers.

As for the vacuum sucking up the flaps - this just isn't possible without some kind of unusual coincidence. There are holes and slots in the baffle plate that are permanently open (not covered by rubber flaps). The top side of the baffle and the bottom side of the baffle are not individually sealed chambers. Therefore any vacuum present on top of the baffle plate is also present below the baffle plate. This also applies to any "vacuum" caused by windage of the crankshaft.

We are in the middle of conducting our own test on a car. However, even if we do not run into an oil pressure issue, we would like to find out what is happening to Dynamix's car. Too bad we are on the other side of the world. Regardless, I'll report back with the results of our testing.

Good to see they are following it through.

I always thought Cosworth were a UK company though :?

So what is the new tack then Dunc?

R32 Nik wrote:So what is the new tack then Dunc?

Either:

a - modifying my existing sump
or
b - getting a fully baffled sump made by the chap that makes them for prodrive

I favour b but I suspect the wallet favours a - we will see who wins

What about modifying the oil pickup so you in essence have 2 oil pickups, one at either end and make your own baffle as they are only 1/8" sheet steel. Most of the traditional baffles i have seen just have a large hole in it for the pick up to go through and have no other holes or slits.

It's these new fangled ones that have the rubber flaps, and i have even seen them with a one-way oil gate in a sectioned sump (with dividers welded in) for Ford Zetec engines.

Just a thought.

Dunk,
I have a Tomei one in my GTR. It has valves mounted vertically to help with surge.
They may do one for yours.

I am going to chat to a fabricator to get one costed up and made to my spec with a definite area around the pickup that cannot suffer from surge and allows returning oil to come back to this undisturbed. I have the designs I need and have been quoted around