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Why Use A Dry Sump System? - Motorsport Tech Session


Why Use A Dry Sump System? - Motorsport Tech Session

Grant Loc
August 4, 2011

Hello.

How are you today?

I have just had a conversation with a customer about the benefits of a dry sump system.

I thought you may be interested in this information, so here you go.

Why Use A Dry Sump System?

In a wet sump, the oil pump sucks oil from the bottom of the oil sump / pan through a tube, and then pumps it to the rest of the engine.

In a dry sump, extra oil is stored in a tank outside the engine rather than in the engine sump. There are at least two oil pumps in a dry sump - one pulls oil from the sump and sends it to the tank, and the other takes oil from the tank and sends it to lubricate the engine.

The dry sump system will always deliver a constant flow of oil to your engine, even under massive forces when taking long corners at high speed. This is essential in a hi-performance engine, even a second with no oil or less oil required to lubricate the engine will result in engine failure.

Dry sump systems have several important advantages over wet sumps:

* Because a dry sump does not need to have an engine oil sump big enough to hold the oil under the engine, the main mass of the engine can be placed lower in the vehicle. This helps lower the centre of gravity and can also help aerodynamics.

* The oil capacity of a dry sump can be as big as you want, this will allow more heat displacement.

* The tank holding the oil can be placed anywhere on the vehicle, allowing you to dictate where the weight is placed.

* In a wet sump, turning, braking and acceleration can cause the oil to pool on one side of the engine. This sloshing can dip the crankshaft into the oil as it turns or uncover the pump's pick-up tube. This will create oil starvation deadly to a performance engine.

* Excess oil around the crankshaft in a wet sump can slap against the crankshaft, this will cut horsepower. Some people claim improvements of as much as 15 horsepower by switching to a dry sump.

The disadvantage of the dry sump is the increased weight, complexity and cost from the extra pump and the tank -- but that's a small price to pay for such big benefits!

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Grant Loc has been in the Motorsports market for over 15 years and the Director of obp Ltd obp Ltd has become a major player in Manufacture and Supply of Quality Race Car Products and provides most of the leading Motorsport distributors all over the World. obp manufacture Race Pedal Boxes, Hyd Handbrakes, Alloy Fuel Swirl Pots, Alloy Fuel Tanks, Alloy Dry Oil Tanks, Alloy Header Tanks, Alloy Oil Catch Tanks, Seat Brackets. http://www.obpltd.com




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