Welding a Dry sump Tank

[dab4318]

Just a quick question for you all, I have bee given a ali dry sump oil tank to weld a boss on for a sensor to fit in.

its already had oil in before and was just wondering what sort of precautions to take. Do I need to get rid of every last bit of oil in the tank etc?

Thanks Dan

 

[normspanners]

What you can do is weld the boss ie the threaded bit on to the clean vented body then pressure test, THEN drill through centre ... heavily grease the drill as it breaks through and drill upside down to minimise the swarf going in because they are baffled and anything left inside stuck to any oil residue will ruin the high pressure pump.
TBH if money was not an issue, and if we had an engine blow we would throw the tank away !!
Scavenge filters can help but dont stop silver oil !!

 

[dab4318]

Cheers Norm, Swarf was my other worry. Its for a Darrian rally car. My friends father is doing something a little different from the norm.

 

[normspanners]

My friends father is doing something a little different from the norm.

Why what am I doing ??? NOT MORE WORK !!!
he will be checking oil temp at the tank before oil goes to engine prob., some times can be overcooled !!

 

[dab4318]

What I meant was he isn't using a XE or a Millington like all the others.

 

[PhillipM]

Honda S2000?

Give it a good clean, warm it through with a torch to force any oil out of pores/seams and wash it again. Then weld it, then lots of washing again. It'll be baffled internally so it'll be a pain to get it clean in the case of getting swarf out.
When we clean ours after a mod/addition, we just cut the thing open to clean it and weld it back shut, sometimes it's easier

 

[dab4318]

Honda S2000?

Give it a good clean, warm it through with a torch to force any oil out of pores/seams and wash it again. Then weld it, then lots of washing again. It'll be baffled internally so it'll be a pain to get it clean in the case of getting swarf out.
When we clean ours after a mod/addition, we just cut the thing open to clean it and weld it back shut, sometimes it's easier

Ford 1600 Turbo I believe.

 

[ndg]

I used to know a guy putting a BDA in one. Don't think it was finished before he passed away unfortunately.

 

[normspanners]

When I fitted s2000 with dry sump, I modded the dry sump tank and put a return fitting under the oil level to empty the breather catch tank back into the main reservoir.

 

[dab4318]

When I fitted s2000 with dry sump, I modded the dry sump tank and put a return fitting under the oil level to empty the breather catch tank back into the main reservoir.

I personally wouldn't want the oil out of my catch tank back in motor though.

 

[normspanners]

Why waste it ? its clean oil ??

 

[dab4318]

Why waste it ? its clean oil ??

I'm sure it's fine but for the amount I actually found in my catch tank it's really not worth it. Oil is the cheap bit in my engine to be honest. But I know a lot of people do recirculate it without a problem.

 

[normspanners]

It is not just about the cost with a high reving engine there can be quite a lot of oil in the air, going into the catch tank the s2000 used to rev to just under 10k and the catch tank was just another separator on the way to atmosphere, because there is more air than oil in the scavenge return line. With most systems you have 2 or 3 pumps scavenging and one pump feeding you could loose quite an amount of oil in the process. So you could very quickly fill the catch tank, after a long period at very high revs.

 

[dannyp]

when each scavange pump cm move more oil than the pressure pump, they throw a hell of a lot of air up to the tank, infact dont even think of them as scavanging oil more like fog. there is that much air goin through that tank when its revving hard, that not all the fog sereates out and there is a lot of oil carry over to the catch can to the point on some setups you need that oil back otherwise you'd be losing oil way to fast

 

[dab4318]

My Vauxhall 1400 8v is revving to 8.5k but I rarely find an awful lot in my catch tank. I know the 16v's use a recirculation kit(which is eye wateringly expensive).

 

[Brad93]

Personally I get a boiling bucket of water and 20% Neat Autobrite APC and put the part in there, giving it a good brush, leaving it to soak then agitating it again. A heated, but clean, parts washer would be ideal.

Then I rinse thoroughly with tap water, then get the acetone on it to remove any stubborn grease or oils.

I then preheat to about 70 degrees which starts to bleed the oil out of the pores of the ally. Repeat this step and cleaning with acetone till you've got as much out as possible. Will still weld like a bag of dog doo doo though in my experience.

One thing I am hoping to try next time is a small steaming unit to try and bleed the oil out and clean it away at the same time.

 

[normspanners]

My Vauxhall 1400 8v is revving to 8.5k

is it dry sumped ?

 

[normspanners]

I then preheat to about 70 degrees which starts to bleed the oil out of the pores of the ally. Repeat this step and cleaning with acetone till you've got as much out as possible. Will still weld like a bag of dog doo doo though in my experience.

There shouldn't be any oil on the new boss or the outside of the tank

 

[dab4318]

is it dry sumped ?

Ah no it isn't.

 

[dab4318]

There shouldn't be any oil on the new boss or the outside of the tank

Forgot to add I got the job done last night. Although I am a welder by trade I haven't really done a lot of Ally. I also didn't have any material to practice on so considering I just jumped straight in and did the job I was pleased with how it turned out.