Pelico Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 My lack of success with the new sump baffle plate has been documented on other threads. Over the weekend I tested it again at fairly modest speeds round a local roundabout and was still getting a noticeable dip in OP, and I am *sure* that it is worse than before I removed the sump foam. So, I have ordered some more of the dreaded foam from Caterham, and I plan drop the sump at the weekend, and see what is going on. Depending on if I can see anything obvious in there that might be the cause of the problem I am tempted to remove the baffle and refit the foam. I have a trackday the following week and at least this will at least give me a back to back test on my car. Has anyone else having problems got any updates ? Someone please talk me out of refitting the foam !!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Howe Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 Peter, unless you can find a reason for the drop in OP then you need to refit the "foam", not just for your own peace of mind but to confirm or elimate the baffle as your source of low OP. If the pressure returns you will be happy, if it remains the same then you can refit the baffle. At the end of the day you bought the car not just to drive but to play with and it beats cutting the lawn... JH Deliveries by Saffron, the yellow 222bhp Sausage delivery machine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 It won't be a particularly rigourous test if you are changing two variables at once. At the risk or wasting some time and oil, I'd be tempted to put the foam *and* baffle back in and see what happens. If you still suffer from low OP, take the baffle out and leave the foam in and retry. It's the only way to be sure of which component is having what effect... FWIW (and yes, it's documented elsewhere...), I did about a dozen hard-charging assents of Fish Hill this w/e - and suffered drops in OP down to 25psi on the left-handers. Project Scope-Creep is live... Alcester Racing 7's Equipe - 🙆🏻™ Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelico Posted May 3, 2005 Author Share Posted May 3, 2005 Myles - Good point ! John, funny you should mention mowing the lawn. I broke the lawnmower in an impressive manner at the weekend. So much so that Mrs Pelico, who was about 100 yards away at the time, said to Pelico Junior. "oh that sounds like daddy breaking the lawnmower" You may have heard the bang from Ardingly 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Mill Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 Would it be possible to arrange a pick-up something like the 'clunk' tank in a model aircraft where the pickup would be thrown to the 'oily' side of the sump by the g-force of the turn? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F355GTS Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 Peter We are doing the same to Knowley's car tomorrow night. I've fitted 5 baffles now and it seems odd that only his seems to have a pressure drop in some bends I'l let you know how we get on Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knowley Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 Thanks Mark - I was just about to reply as well 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mav Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 May be daft but is it worth fitting a new O ring seal on the pickup pipe. I'll be fitting a new one of these at my next oil change (I'll be renewing the sump foam too) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelico Posted May 3, 2005 Author Share Posted May 3, 2005 Thanks Knowley / Mark. I would be very keen to hear about what you find. My self confidence at 'spannering' is so low that I am convinced I must have done something wrong. Knowley - no implied criticism meant there 😬 😬 😬 Mav, good thought ! You do not know offhand what size o-ring it is ? (...and where does one buy a single o-ring 😬) Thanks all, I appreciate the support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mav Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 It's about so big and can probably be bought in Halfords, or your local Rover dealers parts desk... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WILL FLY Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 Mark What are you doing to Knwley's car, fitting a Hellier Baffle or what ? Roy. See willfly.net for more info. If you don't spin you ain't trying Happiness is knowing you have just a tad too much power Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knowley Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 We are taking the sump off to have a look at the Hellier baffle already fitted, maybe something is wrong with mine or how its fitted. No criticism taken, it wasn't me who fitted it 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 your local Rover dealers parts desk Not round here... Local Rover dealer was an Edwards - one of the Thieving-Four... ...went straight into admin AFAIK... I can't see how you can possibly tosh-up fitting the baffle - it has very little movement if fitted around the pickup-pipe and you wouldn't be able to get the sump back on unless you'd managed to put it at the gearbox end, or some other dimwitted variation... I'll give it that - idiot-proof fitting, IMHO... Project Scope-Creep is live... Alcester Racing 7's Equipe - 🙆🏻™ Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knowley Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 Agreed, I was trying not to make assumptions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david nelson Posted May 4, 2005 Share Posted May 4, 2005 What was found? any problems ? what was the OP on the way home? David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knowley Posted May 4, 2005 Share Posted May 4, 2005 We're doing it tonight (Wednesday)... BTW OP was always fine for me on road, I'll have to wait till an next weekend for proper test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knowley Posted May 4, 2005 Share Posted May 4, 2005 Nothing much to report, everything appears fine. Only thing I noticed coming home was the OP needle marginally higher than normal. The baffle was in the right place, and the valves were in good condition etc etc. We decided to remove it, and fit the foam. Then next time I am at Keevil I will monitor the OP in the same way. If its a dry day and I see the same pressure drops as before then I may refit the baffle at lunch leaving the foam in, and see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Day Posted May 4, 2005 Share Posted May 4, 2005 Hmmmmmm........Baffle fitted recently. My experience at Cadwell was OP 4 bar on right handers but down to 2 bar on the left handers very rapidly. I wonder what will happen at long left handers such as Pouhan? I would often see 2 bar here with the foam in the sump (mine wasn't sandwiched) but it would take some while to drop. I'm tempted to drop the sump again & place foam fore & aft of the baffle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F355GTS Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 As Knowley says we didn't find anything obvious and will have to wait until he can see if there's any change. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david nelson Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 Mark and Knowley what grade oil are you using? David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelico Posted May 5, 2005 Author Share Posted May 5, 2005 Hmmmm. Plot thickens. I am tempted to do the same a Knowley and test it out at Heyford a week on Saturday. I suppose I could try the Foam + Baffle permutation, although as Myles wisely points out changing two variables (or a side by side comparison with Knowleys car) is not going to give us a definitive answer. Thanks for posting your news. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelico Posted May 5, 2005 Author Share Posted May 5, 2005 Just had an email from Caterham......they are out of stock of foam (has there been a rush on it ! 😬) So the experiment will need to wait. Unless anyone has some knocking round in their garage they can loan me ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F355GTS Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 Peter Knowley now has foam and no baffle and will be at Heyford, however I doubt the Heyford day will be a suitable test unless I can convince Ed to let us go and play at lunchtime He's using Caterham 5/50 Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knowley Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 I agree, it'll be hard to test out at Heyford. Caterham motorsport oil... am off to buy shares in Comma 7 only day @ Mallory - 06/08/05 R300 Register My R300 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knowley Posted May 27, 2005 Share Posted May 27, 2005 Sorry to bring this one back to life, but I've just done my first airfield day since removing the baffle and refitting the foam... At Hullavington not Keevil this time, but the layout of both is such that you can get a good run, 105-110mph, before having to brake for tight right hand hairpins plus both airfields feature fastish sweeping corners and tight slow twisty bits. At Keevil with the baffle on coldish day, oil temps up to around 95ish, I was suffering pressure drops from 4 to 2 (on caterham guage) sometimes lower. This was happening on virtually all the corners most of the time. Whereas today, hot with oil temps around 110, the pressure drop did still happen, but dropping my half the amount and no where near as consistanly. Most of the time the movement was hard to spot but it did move a bit. I conclude that due to braking extemely hard all the oil is forced to the front of my sump. The baffle doesn't have provision for allowing oil to flow back once the car has settled, and therefore the flow is restricted. I turn in and most of the oil is moving left/right in the front, outside the baffle competely. Which echos what we saw when we removed the sump and slopped the oil about. Not sure how to elivate this... is there some in ingenius way to have the left & right side "wedged" in the sump on their own, or at least loose the front piece. The only other option is to put some holes it in but its already quite thin. I know the other applications this type of baffle is used on have much deeper sumps and therefore hellier use the same valves to go front and back, but our damn sumps are so shallow this just isn't possible. 7 only day @ Mallory - 06/08/05 Caterham R300 Owners Register My R300 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now