K-series Surge Baffle Plate 1

Phew...6hrs to make this plate.

All by hand.

Initial cut out above.
Oil rail slot cut out with oil pickup pipe.
Flange bent over.
It'll fit between the sump and block, no gaskets, just rover's "gloop" sealer. Its made from 2mm.
Left some small gaps to allow draining back in some areas.
It still needs a few holes drilling to allow draining back and relief for oil trapped above in some areas.
The gap to the side of the oil-rail ladder should allow oil to drain back in the sump from the centre of the block area. Also it will dump the oil trapped in the area above the right hand sheeting when you take a left hander! Needs a bit more thought but its mostly the.

Nicely made, shame you won't see it.

Next baffle will be less work.

Other baffle systems

Some load of rubbish imo- sold for MEGABUCKS by Helier Performance.

Really no info on this stuff.

Baffling baffles K-series Sump Waffle.

The task in hand is to somehow make an Anti Surge system for this complex lot.

I am using the normal Rover sump, being much deeper and having a good box section for the oil it has alot of benefits over the Caterham sump. Caterham are notorious for surge they have some horrible bodge up solution of foam and plates. Oddly people do now winge too much in the Elise and MGF. Looking at the sump you'd expect it to surge alot in these cars...

My main concern is braking and right hand corners looking at the engine. On left handers there is not that much surge potential. Left hand corners would make the oil surge towards the top of the block in the image below. If can't really surge up the casecase wall cause the oil ladder and block prevent it from doing so...(to some extent, but will still remedy this). You can see 3 holes rearward from the dipstick, oil can run up these, so my plate will cover these and instead of the large openings I will add 5mm holes here instead. These just drain oil back from the head.

I think the main important in baffling is to arrest the initial surge...What should happen on this side of the block is oil runs up the wall of the sump when you turn in to the corners, it will slosh to the surface with the diptick and 3 holes and then stop surging and hold station. Hense my idea to limit the drain back holes there are 6 drain back holes from the head and they are totally oversized there is not a gallon of oil in the head draining back all the time!

Above you can see my main concern, right handers, as the oil is free to run up the block wall, nothing to stop it at all. My first plate will concentrate on this side of the block.

Below is the pan. The pan floor is horizontal to the road the pan is "stepped"...The shallow side will be completely full of oil and overflowing up the side of the block. The other side will be about 3/4" below the matting surface. The shallow side equates to right handers.
Initial stage 1 idea is a 1.5mm thick plate, bit like a crank scrapper etc. This will stop the oil rushing up the block wall and should arrest the initial surge and with the aid of a small lip should "wave" the oil back to the main pan.

Oil can drain back into the pan through this gap and differences in the level on the other side can be accounted for with the 3x 5mm holes.
So the plate will be like this. That should keep the oil in place on right handers...Most UK tracks are right hander dominated!

There will be another plate/box (not shown) that bolts between the oil rail and the plastic oil pickup pipe....this shrouding the pickup pipe and protect the engine under acceleration and braking and act as a baffle round the pickup for left handers...

Need to get some alloy sheet tomorrow. Be nice to have it all removeable and bolted in. The sump is super rigid as is the block, so hopefully with a piece of dead flat alloy I can get away without paper gaskets and just use the normal sealer...

Will it work? We will see...Its no biggy to remove the sump in the car anyways. I usually make stuff that works, so confident in my idea, it took me 4hrs of thinking to start work on a template.

Chassis painting

Got a bit obsessive...

Stripped all the old powercoating off the front of the rails...Down to baremetal! A solid days work, hardwork! Powdercoating tough to remove! Especially from a shotblasted metal surface. Chassis is mint on this car anyway, but the powdercoating was not the best and I wanted to be shot of it.

I did this to the very front before, so alteast it'll be a decent job now and last.

I brushed over wishy washy couple of coat of Etch primer, then one thick one over that.

I will give the lot a quick flat tomorrow and if my POR-15 chassis paint arrives it should be done!

Decided to remove the shock towers, will get those powdercoated...I wanted them loose anyway.



Horrible work!

Finally some action

How to remove ya K-series.
Lift it up over the cross member.
Forwards 6inches till the back of the gearbox clears the mount and rests on the floor.

Up we go.
Over the radiator and out.
Empty hole.
Cleaned up the chassis a bit.
Finished off the seam welding on the towers, one had started to open up.
Now have to paint the chassis.

Have to pull my finger out this week. Intend to do plenty.