just purchased a weaver 4 stage pump for my project, curious as to the following:

-is there an optimum location for the oil tank ?
-will the pump itself draw a vacuum on the crankcase, or is a vac pump needed for that?
-how do i pick pulley sizes ?
-any prob w/ just angle cutting the sump on a stock (rear sump) pan and welding in a plate, essentialy making it just a V shaped sump when viewed from the side - creating a totaly new pan is out of the question in this case, and there are no aftermarket choices

im sure ill have more to ask later

bump for answers

Heres a link to Weaver Brothers,look through the technical section,it might be of some help,their email adress is also there.
http://www.weaverbrothers.com/index.html

V-pan sounds like a bad idea. In a racing application there can be 30 hp between a functional pan and good pan. Get a real dry sump pan and take not of the pickup locations and windage considerations. Why do you need a dry sump? I guess if you already bought the pump is doesnt matter but a external oil pump is generally sufficient for non-race applications. Pulley sizes are not that critical because the pump will be in bypass at even low speed. Some pumps bypass back to the tank but most do not. Tank location is usually chosen by available space and weight and oil volume requirements. Drag cars will put the tank up by the engine while road race and stock cars put it in the rear in current cars. Old Cup cars had the tank mounted on the right side of the firewall under the hood. Keep in mind that you have to prime a dry sump system every time it sits for more than a few hours which means removing the belt, spinning the pump with a drill or air motor and reinstalling the belt. Also, cold oil does not drew very well through a long hose, even a -16 or -20. An oil heater may be required and low viscosity oil, like 5-20 or 5-30. I dont what GM does to allow the Z06 engine to start without a prime.

cant, I'm using an engine that has a very small following, as far as i know not even the guys that run the salt flats w/ this engine have converted to dry sump.

if i had a pan built id be looking at probably 1000+ for fab & machining work

maybe ill build a jig for the stock pan and machine the entire bottom off, start from there, not sure yet.



-the stock oil pump is notorious for being borderline acceptable as it is
-the stock oil pump already shows signs of cavatation @ high rpm
-the stock oil pump is discontinued and not available in the aftermarket

-the stock oil pan has to be notched a considerable amount to clear the crossmember in the car
-the bottom of the sump has to be raised for ground clearance
^^^ these 2 things result in a sump with very little capacity unless drastic actions are taken

-oil pans don't like being drug across pavement / gravel. i have yet to own a car that i didn't bottom out at some point, and THIS car will get used for the occasional Rally situation ...

i didn't pay to much for it. i could easily clean it up and sell it back off for more if need be



good, ill probably put it on the passenger side firewall anyways, i don't know how much i like the idea of putting it in the backseat anyways



even if the tank is above the pump ? was under the impression that the need for manual priming was tank location ? (IE, low tank or tank mounted to far away for a good gravity prime)



oil line from the tank to pump should wind up about 27 inches
oil heater on the tank - check
oil cooler will be installed (either air or water-to-oil)
5-30 is already the factory recommended oil, so thats not a problem

I always prime whatever I'm working on but you might get away without it if your tank location allows it. Some pump will allow the oil to flow back through the pump and into the pan. There are some pump pulleys with a rachet mechanism which allow the pulley to uncouple from the pumpshaft and allow priming without removing the belt.
Some pumps will create a vacuum in the crankcase but it depends on the type of pump. A regular spur gear pump, like a SBC stocker, does not pump air very well but a gear-rotor does.
For road race type use you will need pickups on both side of the pan. Try and look at some dry sump pans for ideas and I think you can design your own. Much easier than a wet sump since the need for oil control is minimal.

drive kit showed up today, i just picked up a cheapy one cause i have to modify it to fit anyways. the belt will need to be as close to the dampener as possible, and there needs to be as little material forward of the belt as possible also.

even if this stuff only lasts one season, oh well, if it fails ill have the design replicated w/ quality stuff however i can (probably would be a mix of off the shelf stuff and machined to spec stuff)

still debating stuff on the oil pan design, but i have the aluminum needed to modify the pan when i finaly have a solid design... untill then ill just continue to collect the misc stuff needed for a dry sump system

in general the main task right now is to get the engine side of the system squared away so i can stuff it in the chassis and check for fit. remote filter / cooler / dry sump tank will be left for later, as i know i have the space for them, it will just be a matter of routing things to good locations and such

thanks for the help so far guys

so ive gotten some details on the new press brake were getting at work. ive known all along that its a computerized unit, but i didnt have details realy

bend location is supposed to be +/-0.001"
bend accuracy is supposed to be within 1% of a degree

if a bend is located wrong or at the wrong angle, you type in the amount of the error and the machine recalabrates itself for the rest of the required bends

it arrives sometime in the first 1/2 of january, and im one of only 2 people there that will be operating the machine, the bosses son being the other person

think they will mind if i use a $75k machine to build myself an oil pan ?