Extra baffling for the oil pan.
 

I spent some time and made a baffle for my oil pan with hinged doors.

Seems to work, It definitely slows the slosh down. I filled it with a gallon of water to test it. The little hing doors slap shut when when the fluid sloshes forward. It sloshes a lot less with the added baffle than without it. It still seems to drain back into the lower part of the sump just a quick as ever.

Should help keep oil around the pickup under hard braking. I am not sure but I think I have seen some oil pressure fluctuation under hard braking. This cant hurt might help.

Bob

I've definitely seen my oil pressure gauge dip to "uh oh" under hard braking on the track.

Nice little mod.

I'd thought about doing that when I had the motor out and apart but in my rush to actually finish skipped it. Damn. Extra baffles are definetely a good idea. Good work.

Very nice.

It is very similar to the Maruha one: http://chikaramotorsports.com/catalo...5&cat=1&page=2

awww, those rubber flaps are so cute! How much is 110 CAD? Almost looks like he copied that design.

I was heavily influenced by the Maruha design. Total materials on mine was about $6 US from parts sourced at Lowes though, thin pece of steel and a pair of hinges. The Chikara/Maruha one is about $95. I have seen those rubber flaps before I think they are OEM parts from something. In my research of pan baffles I saw them in some flaps in a BMW pan I think that looked just like them. My hinged flaps look more like some pans I have seen from Moroso.

Bob

i took the easy route for once, and just bought the maruha unit, have it installed in my engine, and oil pressure seems very good

Thats good work. I was also thinking about doing this just to cut down on slosh..

These are common practice in the LS1 RX7 world. They sell for over 200 and Improved Racing can never keep them in stock!

Should I be worried? I frequent a track that has a 120-20mph bus-stop.

Yes, that oil pan design is extra baffling to me, indeed...

Sorry, we were all thinking it, someone had to say it...

Miatas definitely suffer from oil starve under braking, I've seen my low pressure light go on more than a couple of times. Usually after a high-G corner that dumps straight into a hard braking zone, i.e. 8 into 9 at T-hill or 2 into 3 at calspeed.

+1 on that question

High G corner that dumps into a hard braking zone seems to be worst case I think. Hard straight line braking doesn’t seem to be as bad, it is more of a rhythm thing going on than a pure steady state G-load I think got to get the motion of the ocean going.

Bob

Nice baffle and fab skills!

I have a Maruha baffle, which is very similar.

Unfortunately, it doesn't fix the pressure drop in heavy straight-line braking, which is where I see 100% of the pressure drop.

Lateral g's do not effect oil pressure at all, in either direction.

The black trace is a recent datalog of my stock non-baffled, non-crank scraper engine. The red trace is a datalog from last year of my baffled & crank-scraped high-revving N/A engine.

Both show consistent pressure drops under the same conditions, though the baffled pressure drops are proportionally bigger. The difference in oil pressure from one engine to the next is due to different oils, different temps, and different engines. The two graphs do show that pressure drop under heavy braking does drop pressure significantly, regardless of having a baffle (red trace) or not (black trace).

Accusump anyone? :)

http://www.miata.tv/post/OilPressDrop.jpg

:eek5:

This thread just became even more win.

Great data wildo, thank you.

Damit now I’m thinking I need an Accusump.

Over rev error on a downshift under braking while having hardly any oil pressure could be really bad for rod bearings. I could easily se myself doing that.

Bob

You do need an Accusump. I have a 2-quart model mounted under the trunk hinge. Put the weight kind of high, but at least it is back and near the center of yaw.

I love having oil pressure before I start the car and during hard braking too. Now if I could just get my fuel starvation in extended right hand turns solved.....

M

How much hose did you use? I'm desperately trying to move weight to the rear of my car too. Will a 1qt accusump cut the mustard...especially considering the amount of oil in the extra-long line? Is the 1-way valve required? My oil system goes: pump-plate-cooler-filter-engine, so I'm not sure if I need it or not.

Also, can I stack a Mocal plate and one of these? That would make install too easy.

The line length does not matter so much. The amount of oil that will move back and forth is only determined by the displacement of the accusump.