Anyone fitted these?

I did a track day yesterday at Castle Combe. I had a great day and my VVC engine upgrade was going really well, over 10s a lap quicker then last time out with the 1.6 (or so I'm told, even though no timing was ever done ) until the point when the engine started making a horrible noise as I came out of Quarry. I limped back to the paddock and I'm pretty sure I've wrecked a big end bearing. I'm thinking oil starvation in the bends that are fast but go on for ever so I'm thinking about baffling the sump when I put it back together again.

Of course, with a K the head bolts have to come off to get to the big ends due to the through bolts clamping into the oil rail below the crankshaft, just trying to decide if the engine needs to come out

There is a chap on metro power selling sump baffles.
http://www.metropower.org.uk/forum/foru ... 9&posts=23
Matty

Bad news there Sanz

I'd speak to Dave at DVA power first for these - if he doesn't do them he'll point you in the right direction I'm sure.

Very unlucky Sanz. The updated baffle in my Honda engine is just a drop in mod, I'd think the lotus Elise market have something you can buy to drop in as well.

Regarding your engine I would just get a replacement complete engine, I sold my old k series engine for about £250 a few years back and had about 17k on the engine so they are fairly affordable. You just don't know what you have really damaged unless you take the crank out and reground it with new ends and mains to match. It would be really upsetting to spend the money on just shells/gaskets/head bolts etc and lots of hours work and swap them in to find it knocks when you first start it up to run in. I would be really upset with myself if that happened to me

That is certainly one of the things I'm considering, although I might as well drop the sump and see if I can tell how bad it is. I'll take off the rocker cover too and see if there are any signs of oil starvation damage in the top end - if so I could probably conclude I've wrecked the whole thing. If everything looks okay I might take a chance on just changing the big end shells and re-use the gasket and bolts in the first instance if I can do it with the engine still in the car.

I've also been offered a bottom end for nowt from an engine that died from top end damage but apparently the bottom end is fine. Still exploring my options.

Thanks both. There is also someone on ebay selling them so not too hard to get one.

I think I'll learn from your experience Sanz and fit a set of baffles whilst my sump is off.

Those eBay ones look alright.

Pop the oil filter off and cut it up see how much metal particles are in there.

messy job but will give an early indication to how much metal has escaped.

Neil

Voice of experience??

Were your ears burning on Monday - was talking with Steve B about you/your coupe, and last June's action day...

When I was working for a GT team we had an issue with an engine at the track it was the quickest way to check if what we saw in the data was a real issue or not. We did the filter was full of metal.

Ah thats why my ears were red

I made my own baffles for my engine and both Castle combe and Cadwell have been used to test them, so far so good.

Neil

I am very surprised to hear this.

I and many other members of TGTM did lots of track days and never had trouble with oil starvation. Our annual trip to Zolder is a good example where up to 10 GTM's would drive to Belgium, spend 2 days on track and drive back. We had lots of issues over the years but never this. As far as I am aware no one had an aftermarket sump baffle.

I fitted an Elise parts windage tray when I had the sump off for no better reason than it was available. I considered the baffle but they were out of stock at the time. I must have done 20 track days with no issues.

It is possible that the big end was ready to go anyway and the track abuse just finished it off. It was an ebay engine so you can never be sure where its been. I had the top end apart but didn't check the bottom end or take the sump off. I had noticed the oil pressure was dropping a bit in the afternoon but never checked the gauge mid corner.

I'm also wondering if the oil level was a bit low. It was on maximum on the dipstick but I can't be sure the dipstick is calibrated properly. The engine was from and MGF with the big fat filler type dipstick tube but I transferred the dipstick/tube from my previous 1.6 engine on the assumption it would be the same but maybe not (or maybe the previous owner had used a wrong length dipstick tube and just got away with it)

I've just picked up this:

I decided to go for another second hand engine and strip the old one when I can rather than rush it.
I will be fitting a sump baffle just in case but I will also measure in the oil so I can be sure it has the right volume regardless of what the dipstick say!

I think that is a much cheaper option sanzomat

Broken engine out. The replacement engine is now physically in the car (as of 10pm yesterday) with parts such as the new cam belt and water pump from the previous engine fitted to the replacement. Sump baffle kit has arrived today so I'll fit that tonight then its just a matter of refitting all the other bits, filling up with fluids, and ready for Llandow on Saturday!!!

Good to hear it's coming together again. Did you go for the eBay baffles in the end?