To spray or not to spray? That is the question.

[Slow old poop]

We drained the oil out of the DSM today, and the end of an oil sprayer came out. We pulled the pan, and all four had been neatly cut off, and the rest were laying in the bottom of the pan. Hmmmm....what to do?

(For those of you who don't know, the oil sprayer sprays oil onto the bottom of the piston, allegedly to help cool it down).

The engine is a 1990 Eclipse 2.3 stroker from AMS who, of course, does not answer the phone on a Saturday. I'll ask them on Monday what to do about it.

Meanwhile, I thought I would see if any of the gonzo engine dudes around here have answers:

1. Do I need oil sprayers? Research indicates that people are split on the issue. Complicating the issue is that this is a road racer, so we are looking at 20 minutes of WOT, not just a 11 sec blast down the strip.

2. Is there something about a stroker that requires a modification to the stock sprayers? Peeking up there shows that there is about a micron of clearance between where the sprayer goes, the bottom of the piston skirt, and the crank counterbalances. I don't mind replacing the oil sprayers, but I don't want the same thing to happen again.

3. Can I buy new oil sprayers from Mitsu or anybody else? Is there a competition version? Is there a stroker version? How much we talking?

Right now, the car is sitting there, sans pan, awaiting answers. We can put it back together as is (with the sheared-off sprayers) and run Road America in two weeks, or wait until I get new sprayers. I have time, either way.

Advice, please

(This same post is over on the road course thread)

Rich

 

[TSIfreek]

Rich I would use them I think slowboy sells new ones and get new washers as well. Why this happened? Well I would think the clearance with the pistons were not checked when finishing up the motor and the piston skirt bottoms sheard them off rather quickly with out you knowing it. In a RR aplication you want to keep everything as cool as possible.
Just my 2 cents.
You may want to call mitch at engintecs (built gregs motor) or his tuners name is suprata

 

[andymoraitis]

Rich,

Considering that you use the car for road of racing and not some 1/4 mile passes, I would keep the oil squirters and pick up a set from SBR as mentioned above. I kept mine and still make tons of oil pressure while keeping the pistons cooler. Upon reinstallation, you can simply check them for clearance and bend them a bit if you need to to avoid contact with the pistons. Here's the link incase you're interested:

http://www.slowboyracing.com/more.php?id=5638&

I should mention that Dan Kasun (project_tsi) pulled the pan and found the same thing when he was tracking down some knock issues. I do remember him saying that they needed to be clearanced, but I'm not sure if he kept them or not. You may want to shoot him a PM and ask just to be sure.

Just my .02,

Andy