Spiess dry sump. Vauxhall.

[mkj]

Hi,
I am after a little advice if anybody has experience with the Spiess dry sump set up on Opel / Vauxhall 20xe engine.
I appreciate this forum is for single seaters but with the Spiess equipment this is probably the best place to ask.
I'm building up a quick Caterham road car using the above engine and would like to use that dry sump, pump etc which I already have. It is the aluminium sump pan rather than the magnesium version. The sump and pump will not be exposed to much road debris.
Some questions;
1) Will this fit straight onto the standard 20xe block?
2) For spares is it best to contact Spiess direct or elsewhere?
3) Does anybody have an assembly diagram?
4) What sort of mileage can be achieved between strip downs?
Thanks,
Andy

[Lola]

Try a forum on the monoposto website, as the Vauxhall is a very common engine within that formula with that setup.

[mkj]

I have tried for a couple of weeks now to register to the Monoposto website and I'm not getting any reply, and hence can't post on there. It appears that if you have problems registering you have to contact the forum administrator, which is slightly difficult as you have to be registered to contact the administrator!!

[andrewc]

If you can let me know your proposed username I'll ask the admin for you. There had been a load of spambots/false registrations on their forum.

We bought a magnesium dry sump from Spiess after a conrod bolt failure punched a hole in one. Not cheap at around £ 900

These were used on their F3 Opel engines and the sump pan also served as an engine mounting.

tristancliffe may have made a 3D CAD drawing to machine from aluminium if required.

[BertMk2]

Is there any particular reason you're using the Speiss dry sump - seems a bit specialist for a road car? There are other dry sump kits available for the XE that will work out a lot cheaper over the lifespan of the car / engine.

[andrewc]

Anyway to answer one of the questions, the sump pan may need modification depending on the connecting rods you are using. In a full F3 spec engine with steel crank and expensive rods, there is clearance, but if you were building a Mono spec engine using the F3 'fitting kit' and a standard engine, you have to fettle the sump so that the rods clear the sump. I believe the scraper plates need fettling as well.

Alternatively a thin spacer between block and sump could be used.

If you are using aftermarket rods, this may not be an issue - but a test build is required...

[mkj]

Thanks for the replies.

No doubt like many other people, various ideas about I car I wish to build have been floating around the grey matter for some time. I have been involved in building race type cars for customers, and parts to suit, for a number of years (Axminster Specialist Panels www.andywiltshire.com) and it's time to do something for myself. For me it's more about the building of it rather than the later driving of it, and I will be doing so in a GT / Modsports style with the right bits.

The quality of the Spiess items is first rate. I'm probably making a rod for my own back here but I'm sure I'm not the first and I certainly will not be the last.

Andrewc. I will get a pm through to you. The spacer echoed my thoughts. Thanks.

Andy

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by mkj

The quality of the Spiess items is first rate. I'm probably making a rod for my own back here but I'm sure I'm not the first and I certainly will not be the last.

There's more than one way to crack a nut. We have the SBD dry sump kit fitted to our XE powered Escort and have been very happy with both the kit and the service from SBD - parts are available off the shelf and are probably considerably cheaper than the Speiss option. There's no technical reason not to go for the Speiss kit though.

[andrewc]

A spacer gives twice the opportunities for oil leaks...