James Saunders Posted October 6, 2001 Share Posted October 6, 2001 Just pricing up a new caterham, as you do when bored on a sat night !! I notice the R500 and blackbird have a dry sump and I am pricing up a SLR. What is a dry sump all about and is it worth the £1100 it costs? James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murph7355 Posted October 6, 2001 Share Posted October 6, 2001 As an add on later it's 1700 quid+ It's all about maintaining oil supply under acceleration, braking and, more importantly in a 7 and especially on a K, cornering (right handers on the K). Instead of being "stored" in the sump, the oil is held elsewhere in a special tank. Here the pickups can be designed to ensure oil is picked up under all circumstances, whereas in the sump it can often slosh (tech term) away from the pickup causing grief. Big time. The oil pump and other bits of the system (e.g. breathing) can aslo be more suitably designed than those used on your bog std. road car engine. Is it worth it? If you do lots of track days and really push the car a lot, then yes. Otherwise you can probably get away with an Apollo tank (gets rid of any air bubbles that form in the oil). Note also that the Caterham dry sump design is far from optimal, especially for the frantic revving cars. I've heard that people in some race series are removing them in favour of Apollos due to some failures too. Would I get one if buying my car new now (I have a modified 200bhp K that I use quite thoroughly)? Until a better design comes along (Pace are about to start working on one and this may prove to be a better option both cost and effectiveness wise) then I probably would, if only for peace of mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Saunders Posted October 6, 2001 Author Share Posted October 6, 2001 Andy Thats very usefull info mate. Like you say for piece of mind its worth it. I'd like to do track days so I would definately tick that option. Thanks James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Plato Posted October 7, 2001 Share Posted October 7, 2001 I would contact Pace and QED before you place your order , as they are developing what could be a superior dry sump system to the original caterham set up , it could also work out cheaper ,be more efficient at oil scavenge , be easier to read the oil level , reduce airation , hold a greater capacity and keep the oil cooler . All of the above have been identified as potential issues with the caterham set up . dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luddites7 Posted October 7, 2001 Share Posted October 7, 2001 Dave Have you got contact numbers (web addresses) for Pace and QED, I am looking into a dry sump for a std 1.6K engine for next year some time, the caterham £1700 seemed rather a lot. If anybody else has costs for dry sump and providers - also how easy is it to fit etc, I would appreciate any help. Cheers Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gridgway Posted October 7, 2001 Share Posted October 7, 2001 Just my neg thought. I would be wary of someone who is just developing a dry sump system. Let others get the bugs out and blow up a few engines first! You can always go for the Apollo and dry sump system for full (maybe) protection. Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metal mickey Posted October 7, 2001 Share Posted October 7, 2001 What about fitting an Accusump. Ultimately not quite as good as a well designed dry sump system at the absolute limit but are you going to be there? With the accusump you also get the added benefit of prelube on start up, you don't have to fit a power sapping ds pump and its less than half the cost! Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murph7355 Posted October 7, 2001 Share Posted October 7, 2001 A guy on the se7ens list has had fairly big engine troubles despite having an Accusump. I wouldn't bother with one personally. Pace are doing a fairly thorough job and have done well known dry sump systems for many road based engines. Also for F1 teams (I'm told). They also, apparently, did some work with Caterham a while back, which came to nought for some reason. Their system is likely to be available Q1 next year and a full system is likely to cost in the region of 1100 quid, but don't hold them to that as they're still finalising the bits that are needed. As for testing the systems, well they're learning from many of the issues with the Caterham system, but it's a fair point. They also have a few cars that are potentially going to be used as guinea pigs. If anyone is interested in joing in the fun, mail me and I'll get you included on the next round of emails that fly around on the subject (the Pace thing was initiated in earnest by Miraz and a few guys on the se7ens list). But Pace are pretty busy at present and so everything is variable right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHRIS CLARK Posted October 7, 2001 Share Posted October 7, 2001 Mick Smith had an 'Accusump' on his 224BHP 'K' with the thought that it was almost as good as a dry sump. His engine damage was very severe (IMHO) and a major rebuild is now in order thumbsdown.gif Would suggest that if you can wait then the 'Pace' system may well become 'the' preferred dry sump fit !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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