[Fot] Spitfire oil pan baffling

[Norlin Engineering]

I've been dealing with the same problem and am planning on modifying both
the pan and the oil pump pickup this winter.  Same situation with OP
dropping in left hand turns and under braking.  The combination of hard
breaking followed by a sweeping left is the worst.  I've already installed
the IJ scraper and screen.

In addition to the oil pan baffling recommendations, does anyone have
recommendations on modifying the Spitfire oil pump pickup?

Thanks in advance

Jim Norlin

-----Original Message-----
From: fot-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:fot-bounces at autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Barr, Scott
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 9:27 AM
To: fot at autox.team.net
Subject: [Fot] Spitfire oil pan baffling


We're planning to improve the baffling in our Spitfire oil pans for next
year and are looking for any input you might have.  (I say "pans", plural,
because we hope to have more than one Spitfire next year.)  Any thoughts on
how baffling should be done?

The oil pan we're using is currently baffled as described in the original
Comp Prep Manuals.  There's a divider down the center of the pan
(longitudinally) which goes from the bottom of the pan (with a small space
underneath - approx. 1/4") and extending up to the level of the shallow part
of the pan.  In the divider is a big swinging trap door allowing oil to
surge from the right side of the pan over to the left (where the pickup is),
but not the other way.  There are some approx. 3/8th" holes (6 or 8) drilled
in the trap door.

For the last couple of years, we've had no luck keeping Spitfire motors
alive for longer than one race.  We've been losing rod and main bearings.

Given that the pan is baffled and that I've got a 3-quart Accusump, I've
never bothered to install a big red idiot light.  Until the last race. (OK,
call me a slow learner)  What we found out watching the big red light
(pressure switch set at 40psi) is that we're losing oil pressure very
rapidly every time I turn left.  Could be lots of things, including oil
level set too low to start with, but we're going to install our new I-J
crank scraper with directional screen windage tray, improve our pan baffling
and see what happens next year.

Scott B.
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