Making a Dry Sump Oil Tank .....

[Darren]

Hi Chaps, I've been away for some time ... not been idle though and have done heaps of stuff while I have been away ... thought it was about time I put a post up .... 

I have been working solidly on my car, a 1988 Vauxhall Astra .... literally turned a bucket of rust into a gem ... lots of work ...!! Then I wrote it off ... lol ....

I'd had the car for 15yrs, tuned it quite a bit and added lots of stuff .... so I bought another and the engine lives on ... while I was at it I tuned it some more ... like you do .... not a lot more that can be done to it now ... but I am dry sumping it at the mo ... and need a tank ...

The idea is to use a 5" dia x 20" tall stainless tube ... 1.5mm thick wall .. bits ordered but while I wait for those to come I decided to make these weld on fittings from solid bar on the lathe ....









Regarding the 5" tube, I'd like to make the top 1/3rd removable from the bottom 2/3rds ..... so any ideas on how to do that would be welcomed ... it needs to be oil tight but the oil level will be below the joint ...

[ausdier]

Something simple ?

[Brass_Machine]

Jiffy-Tite makes some quick disconnects. Might just be easier to order one?



Catalog

Eric

[Darren]

Some very nice fittings there Eric, but not what I'm needing 

Imagine a 5" tube 20" long. I wish to cut 5" off the top and be able to join it again..

[AndreasL]

...cut 5" off the top and be able to join it again..

 

*sorry but couldent help my self*

On Topic: Nice fittings you made. Manual lathe?

[dsquire]

Darren

See. While you were gone away busy, nothing changed. Everyone is still as helpful as they always were. 

Cheers 

Don

[Darren]

Yes Don, I see they are  Would love a TIG welder though ... one day ...


Yes a manual lathe, Smart and Brown 1024 ... not light ... lovely machine ...


I think I might try cutting the tube into three pieces 15, 4 & 1"   use the 1" split and inserted inside the 4" and tacked in place to make a step for the longer piece to slip over .... hope that make sense? Use an o-ring to seal ..

I'll post as and when I do it ... 

[AdeV]

Darren,

That's an interesting proportion, any reason you want such a narrow tank - is fitting it in a problem?

The reason I ask - 120 quid will buy you a ready-made aluminium alloy one with fittings fitted, and the separator plate already in place, no need to cut-n-shut, or worry about leaky flanges or other medical issues...

If you're absolutely set on DIY'ing a S/S one, you'd be welcome to swing by my place to use the TIG welder, I've got a bunch of stainless rods, again that'll save you the hassle of fabricating fittings, finding o-rings, etc.

If you do go down the fittings route, Ausdier's design would be my first choice - I guess the only difficulty comes back to welding stainless...

[Darren]

Hi mate, been a while since we chatted ...

I have a very nice expensive Pace 8.25" tank like new .... just can't fit the damn thing in the engine bay which is where I want it. So looking around I see you can get cheap alloy tanks in a smaller dia ..... but not of the dismantle type like the Pace?

best I can find is nearer £300 .... for a tin ?? 

So, not being able to weld alloy I thought I'd try SS, I can weld that with the MIG ...

Should cost me about £40-50 all in .... well that's the plan .....


Oh and I still have major 

[Darren]

Ausdier 

[AdeV]

Hi mate, been a while since we chatted ...

I have a very nice expensive Pace 8.25" tank like new .... just can't fit the damn thing in the engine bay which is where I want it. So looking around I see you can get cheap alloy tanks in a smaller dia ..... but not of the dismantle type like the Pace?

best I can find is nearer £300 .... for a tin ?? 

So, not being able to weld alloy I thought I'd try SS, I can weld that with the MIG ...

Should cost me about £40-50 all in .... well that's the plan .....


Oh and I still have major 

Fair comments 

The way I see Ausdier's plan working - cut your tank as planned (I presume this is to insert a splash tray/separator tray/anti-surge plate/whatever the hell it's called just above the oil level?), weld flanges around the outside, cut an o-ring groove, drill (& optionally tap the bottom portion if its thick enough), then the two parts just bolt together.

Your "internal lip" idea would also work, you could either cut or swage a groove into the inner lip to hold an O-ring (cut, probably, if you're using 1.5mm thick pipe), you would need some method of holding the top onto the tank in that case, simplest I can think of would be a strap that runs from the bottom piece, over the lid (& through a locating loop, like a belt loop on your trousers), down to some kind of clasp arrangement on the bottom portion. Or weld a pair of ears onto both lid & tank, and bolt through them, like a partial flange.

I might be able to do crap-o-cads if it would help?

[Brass_Machine]

 

Ausdier 

He is the guy who 1st responded to your post.

 

[Darren]

 

That would be great, bit worried about welding such a thing on thin (1.5mm) SS as it warps easily ....

Ausdier 

He is the guy who 1st responded to your post.

 

[Darren]

I think I get you .... 

I've got a fixed steady but it's too small .... always a but ...!
I'll think of something ..... waiting for the tube to arrive then I'll see what I can come up with .... 

Hi mate, been a while since we chatted ...

I have a very nice expensive Pace 8.25" tank like new .... just can't fit the damn thing in the engine bay which is where I want it. So looking around I see you can get cheap alloy tanks in a smaller dia ..... but not of the dismantle type like the Pace?

best I can find is nearer £300 .... for a tin ?? 

So, not being able to weld alloy I thought I'd try SS, I can weld that with the MIG ...

Should cost me about £40-50 all in .... well that's the plan .....


Oh and I still have major 

Fair comments 

The way I see Ausdier's plan working - cut your tank as planned (I presume this is to insert a splash tray/separator tray/anti-surge plate/whatever the hell it's called just above the oil level?), weld flanges around the outside, cut an o-ring groove, drill (& optionally tap the bottom portion if its thick enough), then the two parts just bolt together.

Your "internal lip" idea would also work, you could either cut or swage a groove into the inner lip to hold an O-ring (cut, probably, if you're using 1.5mm thick pipe), you would need some method of holding the top onto the tank in that case, simplest I can think of would be a strap that runs from the bottom piece, over the lid (& through a locating loop, like a belt loop on your trousers), down to some kind of clasp arrangement on the bottom portion. Or weld a pair of ears onto both lid & tank, and bolt through them, like a partial flange.

I might be able to do crap-o-cads if it would help?

[Darren]

Decided to have a go at cutting some 5" Stainless Steel round discs from some flat sheet I have laying around ...

Some rough "rounds" cut on the guillotine first drilled a centre hole and then held against a cam sprocket to add ridigity and drive on the lathe ..



Well that worked



So made four in total, here they are all together .... not to size yet as I'll wait for the pipe to come and size to fit ...

[raynerd]

Bloody hell, long time 

Nice to have you sharing your projects again!
Chris

[Darren]

Thanks Chris, nice to see you are still here, done loads by now I guess? 


Managed a bit more on my dry sump tank this evening ... I'll let the pic's do the talking ...

[Sorekiwi]

A few (actually quite a few) years ago I worked on a can-am car that had a similar sounding tank (although probably about 10" in diameter).

The top and bottom were joined by 1/4" flanges on each piece, sealed by a large O ring, and held together by a dozen or so capscrews.

One thing you might want to consider is locating the return line into the side of the tank on a tangent and slightly pointing down, to swirl the returning oil around the sides of the tank.  This reduces any splash and helps a bunch with removing the air from the scavenge side of the system.

Hope this makes sense!

[Darren]

Managed a bit more on my dry sump tank this evening ... I'll let the pic's do the talking ...

[Darren]

Made a top piece, 2.5" thread, I figured small tops are a right pain for topping the engine oil up, so made it a touch on the big side to save spilling oil everywhere !! ...

[Brass_Machine]

That's coming along nicely Darren!

Eric

[Darren]

Thanks Eric ... coming along ...

So now I needed a screw cap ... this time it's alloy ...

Threaded to match ...



Cleaned up the other end



Then a spin on the rotary table to make some finger grooves



Back on the lathe to balance the dips with the raised bits and a final tidy up.



I may cut the top fitting down a touch to shorten?

[NickG]

Lovely work Darren, good to see you back and showing your projects. Sorry to hear about the Astra, small consolation but at least the engine lives on. So it's going back in another Astra then?

Are you sticking an o ring on the cap or will it not be needed?

Nick

[Darren]

Finished off making the last remaining parts, namely two Stainless breather weld on bosses and brass fitting ... just needs a clean-up and welding together now ...

Even I'm surprised just how many parts I needed to fabricate ... lol



Rod will be welded to the bottom plate



Secured to the top section like so



The idea was for nothing to be seen ... like so ...



Inners the right way up



Now upside down, the tube will be welded to the top bar and the inners will hang from the top section and can be withdrawn with the top piece for cleaning the tank.



The fittings, one has a slot, to make sure the oil is drawn at the lowest point where there will be less air bubbles...

[Darren]

Hi Nick ...     The engine has been in another Astra for the last 12mths, Unfortunately before that I gave the head to an "expert" to modify and he built it badly by putting the wrong valve spring seats back in from another head .... very different and I'm surprised he missed his mistake.
Anyway all was fine with the standard cams, but when I swapped for some higher lift cams that he built it for we got coil bind .... cam snapped and exited through the cam caps ....!!

I was not best pleased, it's supposedly was re-built for those cams ....

Anyway, I fixed that and did some porting work, got some new cam caps and line bored them true .... fingers crossed I did it right .... will soon know ...lol

Yes I'm planning on a couple of o-rings here and there .... cheers ... 

Lovely work Darren, good to see you back and showing your projects. Sorry to hear about the Astra, small consolation but at least the engine lives on. So it's going back in another Astra then?

Are you sticking an o ring on the cap or will it not be needed?

Nick