Dry Sump Valve Cover

[greengoblin]

Andrew Brilliant asked me to build a new VC set up for his car. The last one I did for him was set up with a prototype of my now laser cut units which is design for a traditional crank case vent setup.

Now that his car is on a dry sump the baffles are not need. The dry sump scavenges from his VC port and having it pull in oil is a good thing. . Andrew's time attack car is also at a point where weight is being shaved off by the gram. So with that in mind I will be removing excess material from the VC . The ideal way to do this is with a mill. Since I don't own one everything will be done with pretty basic hand, air tools and time. Hope you guys like it. I'll post things as they progress.

Stock VC with baffles removed. I have found the best tool for this job is spot weld cutter like the one pictures below.

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The letters and lines on top are just dead weight. So off they go. I just use a angle grinder to do the initial work. Then take them down the rest of the way with a belt sander. Then a DA sander is used to blend things if needed. To get a clean straight edge where the lines use to meet the raised area on the ends I just use a sharp file and some time.

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An external oil tank is also used so there is no need for a filler cap on the valve cover off it goes. Again I just used a saw to get the bulk of it off then used a belt sander to get it flush and smooth. Once the hole has the piece of aluminum welded in place it will be smoothed and the final profile will be sanded. Still this gives you a pretty good idea of how it will look.

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Since we are not using baffles there is a lot of material on the under side that is not need. This is where I really. really wish I had a mill. But with time patiences and realistic goals and how it will look a die grind will get you a long ways. I plan on doing a bit more work but the bulk of the material for the underside has been removed. That pile next to the VC is just some of the metal taken off.

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It about to head off to be media blasted in preparation for the welding where my good friend Travis will work his magic. More pictures and such soon.

Kevin

 

[Archer Fabrications]

so without baffels how do the cam journals get enough oil? i'm not to educated on how the dry sump works. Got a page on that i can read up on? Shaving off weight by the gram.. thats hard core. sounds like a headache but good job looks much chealer IMO! i'm sure ill be there someday in my quest for a 9.9 1/4 mile

i know you make custom baffels so i figure you would be the best person to ask this qustion to.


dont forget to shave off the spark plug wire orentation arrows every bit counts right? gotta be at least 3 grams right there.

 

[Spyder FX]

Subscribed!

Very good tip on the spot weld cutter, I never even thought of using one for that purpose. I was just going to take my grinder to town on those nubs in order to remove my baffles.

 

[Eeeeky]

so without baffels how do the cam journals get enough oil? i'm not to educated on how the dry sump works. Got a page on that i can read up on? Shaving off weight by the gram.. thats hard core. sounds like a headache but good job looks much chealer IMO! i'm sure ill be there someday in my quest for a 9.9 1/4 mile

i know you make custom baffels so i figure you would be the best person to ask this qustion to.


dont forget to shave off the spark plug wire orentation arrows every bit counts right? gotta be at least 3 grams right there.

I think you may be a little confused man. The cams or cam journals in NO WAY get their oil from the baffles. They are a journal bearing setup, just like our bottom ends, only without bearings and the head being where they ride. The baffles just keep oil mist/vapor from getting out of the breathers, and so on.

 

[Archer Fabrications]

I think you may be a little confused man. The cams or cam journals in NO WAY get their oil from the baffles. They are a journal bearing setup, just like our bottom ends, only without bearings and the head being where they ride. The baffles just keep oil mist/vapor from getting out of the breathers, and so on.

it also redirects oil splash directly onto the cam journals man. why do you think they are placed so strategically i think you are perhapse confused? i know they dont GET their oil there, but its starving it from where it normally would get extra oil from the redirected splash down. then again, like i said i know nothing about dry sump stuff which is why i asked for a link about it.

 

[greengoblin]

so without baffels how do the cam journals get enough oil? i'm not to educated on how the dry sump works. Got a page on that i can read up on? Shaving off weight by the gram.. thats hard core. sounds like a headache but good job looks much chealer IMO! i'm sure ill be there someday in my quest for a 9.9 1/4 mile

i know you make custom baffels so i figure you would be the best person to ask this qustion to.


dont forget to shave off the spark plug wire orentation arrows every bit counts right? gotta be at least 3 grams right there.

The arrows have been shaved down close to flush. I'm not going to try and remove them completely because with the tools I have I'd run the risk of a low spot. The vc still need to look nice and it will be powder coated.


The cam journals will get plenty of oil. People have been running with out baffles for years with no ill effect other than catchcan full of oil. I personal feel the baffles act mainly as shields to keep oil out of the catch cans and or intake. I also feel the extra splashing of oil is just windage and cause more drag then help. Again this is my opinion. Other feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Archer Fabrications]

The arrows have been shaved down close to flush. I'm not going to try and remove them completely because with the tools I have I'd run the risk of a low spot. The vc still need to look nice and it will be powder coated.


The cam journals will get plenty of oil. People have been running with out baffles for years with no ill effect other than catchcan full of oil. I personal feel the baffles act mainly as shields to keep oil out of the catch cans and or intake. I also feel the extra splashing of oil is just windage and cause more drag then help. Again this is my opinion. Other feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

hey, you would know better then i would, im running both my valve cover ports into a gatorade bottle with a straight through, PCV delete to releave as much pressure as possible.

 

[99gst_racer]

it also redirects oil splash directly onto the cam journals man. why do you think they are placed so strategically i think you are perhapse confused? i know they dont GET their oil there, but its starving it from where it normally would get extra oil from the redirected splash down. then again, like i said i know nothing about dry sump stuff which is why i asked for a link about it.

The camshaft lobes and rocker rollers get their oil from the HLAs through the little hole in the rocker. http://www.kigglyracing.com/parts/images/9250_cam1_HP_Beehive_Spring.avi

Kevin it right. The baffles control windage to some extent, but they are primarily there to prevent oil from saturating the air path used to evacuate the crankcase. And being the a dry sump system doesn't use valve cover ports, there's little to no need for valve cover baffling.

 

[Detective Coating]

Looking good Kevin! Can't wait to see the final product

 

[lowell]

I'd be interested to know before and after weights.

 

[Archer Fabrications]

I'd be interested to know before and after weights.

probably not enough for the average dsmer to care about... unless you like this guy and shaving things off by the gram. i still think thats very impressive.. yet at the same time completely nuts. sounds too tedious for me haha but when you got goals you've got goals. glad to see the will to reach them.

 

[greengoblin]

I'd be interested to know before and after weights.

You can feel the difference with just your hands right now and that is comparing the shaved unit to an OEM unit with no baffles.

I'll post them up the final weights once all the welding is done.

Kevin

 

[Spyder FX]

Since weight is an issue, what type of coating will be used?

 

[greengoblin]

Since weight is an issue, what type of coating will be used?

The ideal finish would be polished. That's not in the budget. I can powder coat , my time is free so we are going that route. In the end it will be lighter and that is the goal. It will look damn nice too. If someone does good polish work and wants to hook us up(free) then chime in.



Kevin.

 

[asap1320]

if your time is free polish it yourself, i find it hard to believe you have enough skill to do this but cant polish, ijs

 

[greengoblin]

if your time is free polish it yourself, i find it hard to believe you have enough skill to do this but cant polish, ijs

I do have limits to what I will do for free for others cars. Also it would not be free because I would have to buy all the tools and stuff to do a good job. A long, long time ago I polished a VC by hand without the right tools. It only came out ok and I spent hours and hours on it. Are you offer up your time and skills?

On top of all that Andrew asked to have the VC coated blue.

IJS


Kevin

 

[Spyder FX]

I do have limits to what I will do for free for others cars. Also it would not be free because I would have to buy all the tools and stuff to do a good job. A long, long time ago I polished a VC by hand without the right tools. It only came out ok and I spent hours and hours on it. Are you offer up your time and skills?

On top of all that Andrew asked to have the VC coated blue.

IJS


Kevin

I too have spent hours polishing one up, and that was just the flat easy parts. Once I had to start on the spark plug well, I said F it, then did a light scuff on the polished bits and painted it with high gloss black enamel.

 

[greengoblin]

I too have spent hours polishing one up, and that was just the flat easy parts. Once I had to start on the spark plug well, I said F it, then did a light scuff on the polished bits and painted it with high gloss black enamel.

Exactly. Sure I would like to have it polished out to a chrome finished then have a clear anodized coating on it. Better yet have Andrew at Frontline fabrication build him a CNC unit out of 7075. But that is not going to happen. At least not with the budget and time frame I was allocated.

Kevin

 

[bmoha7321]

Normally I don't get roped into these things but your comment questioning his skills has irked me. Kevin is part of an elite group that has pushed the DSM platform considerably. His work has been very beneficial to the DSM community as a whole.

 

[____Kurt____]

I am currently working on my VC as well and was going to opt out of shaving it because I put a stupid amount of hours into it and the end result is it isnt worth its weight is scrap. After reading this it gave me inspiration to once again shave a VC. I took your idea of using a milling machine and ran with it. I am currently working on it so hopefully it will be done soon. Thanks Kevin and keep up the good work.

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[greengoblin]

Almost done. A bit more blending then on to powder coating it. Big thanks to Travis for doibg the welding perfectly and in record time!

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[dsmTripp]

Looks damn nice... will be waiting for pics of the finished product.
As for me im currently shaving a valve cover with simple hand tools taking it a little here and there. So again keep up the good work

 

[greengoblin]

OEM VC with baffle and oil cap weight is 4.8 Lbs
Modified VC is 3.4 Lbs
So a loss of 1.4 lbs
It will gain a bit back once it's coated but over all I'm very happy with the results.

 

[greengoblin]

Andrew's Vc all done!

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[teejayDSM]

A bit late now but what about anodizing instead of powder coating? would save some weight and still be blue.