Just need to vent

[101rs]

Mad at myself. Took my car to a track day today even tho I told myself that I wouldn't track the car until I beefed up the oiling system.
I only managed to get 8 laps in before I spun a bearing.
Anyways, at least I have all winter to get a new block in her. Anyone have some suggestion to make this one Mike proof? I'm thinking of a accumulator system.

[JoeT]

Accumulator system is a good thing, but you'll also need to catch the oil that excapes the breathers and recycle it back into the crankcase. I have an oil recovery tank in mine which puts the oil back into the center vent. So far so good.

[STeveD]

Sorry to hear it, Mike. :-(

I have the "Exxon Valdez" oil pan that doesn't fit my new headers. 7qts. Will need a good cleaning though because it was from my motor that dropped an exhaust valve at 6000rpm.

If I had room in the new car for it, I'd be finding a way to use it again instead of an Accusump. But it doesn't work with twinscroll headers.

You always want oil at the pickup. Volume and pan design help with that. Accusump waits until your oil pump runs low pressure, then kicks in. Not the ideal situation, but a fix for when oil capacity can't be increased. (I'm going with it because I can only fit a 5.5L pan.)

[Navigator]

Mike call me and Ill get you set up with everything you need (block included). If you can make Steves pan fit then that will also work well.

[LaszloT]

Won't a STi's oil system fit your RS, and shouldn't it be track-worthy?

[JoeT]

Sti oil system is inadequate when pulling higher G's than street tires. Its too easy to starve a boxer engine. When tracking a stock STI its not a matter of IF, its a matter of when.

As the skill level increases, so does the chance of oil starvation when driven on tarmac at sustained G loads.

[STeveD]

LW_Black4 wrote:
Won't a STi's oil system fit your RS, and shouldn't it be track-worthy?

Yes, and no. Mike has a light car, sticky tires, and amazing driving skills. So no, stock is not going to keep one of Mike's engines alive.

The 2.5L STi pan is better than the 2.0L and 2.5L pans for track design (better at focusing oil around the pickup) but even that holds only 4.5L.

Once you slap sticky R-Comps on an Impreza and go through turn 3 at Mosport in a turbo car, things can go bad. Even worse if the motor was built with loose tolerances. The 11mm oil pump on the newer cars is worse than the 10mm that came on my 2004. Basically, depending on what gear you use through corners, it can empty the area around the pickup before you're fully tracked out. Go up the back straight and you'll spin a bearing somewhere between turns 5 and 7.

Solutions:

Bigger oil pan with good baffling
Air Oil / Separator to prevent blowby from going into your intake and return oil to the pan. (Best for track cars, not as good for street cars)

Band-aids:

Accusump
Smaller oil pump (10mm)

[nitrowsb]

So I've been lucky so far?

[Guillermo]

The best baffled oil pans use hinged baffles and have a larger capacity then stock. For some types of track cars a hinged baffled oil pan is all that's needed. But for other cars (such as Subarus) the suggestions in the posts above are also required to prevent engine damage in the long high G corners.

[JoeT]

nitrowsb wrote:
So I've been lucky so far?

Hey Trung,

Hate to say it but if you switch to tires stickier than RA-1 or R888's the inherent flaw in the boxer engine will rear it's ugly head in the form of a spun bearing. This applies to sustained high G turns like Turn 3 in mosport.

That's why I use a gated oil pan and an oil recovery / recycling system with top baffled oil pan.

[STeveD]

nitrowsb wrote:
So I've been lucky so far?

You may have the original 10mm pump and you might drive turn 3 at lower RPM. Fourth gear at turn in, grabbing 5th early, and a late apex Will reduce the time at higher G's.

[alf]

nitrowsb wrote:
So I've been lucky so far?

tic tic tic...

[nitrowsb]

Nah...I'm not that hard on cars!