Upper oil pan baffle prototyping
 

Upper oil pan baffle idea; is it worth trying? Ideas for improvement?

Downside is if it doesn’t work, I have to take out my engine, again. 😅

PS. With the engine stopped, the oil level is at the top of the upper oil pan and this baffle is submerged. With the engine above 5000RPM the oil level drops about 40mm exposing this baffle. Upper oil pan is ~62mm thick.

Oil already doesn’t return to the sump fast enough. This seems like it would exacerbate that.

This was also my first though. Keeping the oil up top isn't the issue. It's getting the oil back down to the sump quick enough to get picked up. That's why overfilling the oil helps - it ensures there's oil down there to pick up.

This is also why lower baffles don't make a huge difference and didn't really solve the gen 2 issues.

Partially correct; the oil doesn’t return easily from the heads and timing cover because of the convoluted return path. The crankcase doesn’t have this issue, and this baffle doesn’t affect that other than maybe a little bit for the rear left head oil return.

Attachment 226279


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So only a LITTLE worse head drainage. Got it. To what benefit then?

Updates the design slightly; longer narrower louvers with more space in between to make the plate stronger. I also updated my 3D printed forming dies to be a little stronger.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a18cee60f2.jpg

And installed! Looks and feels reasonable.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...49e14b65a3.jpg

I checked natural frequency to make sure nothing would vibrate at the same frequency as the engine. First in CAD, secondly by “plucking” the same corners as in CAD and measuring frequency. Everything seemed to be 614hz or higher, which is good! Less worries of vibration and fatigue. Trying to stay as far above the natural frequency of 4 piston engine at 7400RPM as possible, which is 247hz.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...776867ec59.jpg

In theory, less oil and air mass spinning around the crankshaft should hopefully mean less power loss and less oil mist going out the PCV.

Just a small optimization instead of the carryover part of an FB20 for less than $100 of prototyping material and some spare time as I wait for some pistons to arrive.