Sam 
Moderator Premium Member 
 
Registered: 24th Dec 99
 Location: West Midlands 
User status: Offline 
 
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My favourite subject lately... 
 
Can someone please explain to me what a "dry" sump is and why it's better than a normal one? 
 
I keep seeing people talk about this from time to time and I've no idea what this is!  
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Jed D 
Member 
 
Registered: 15th Mar 11
 Location: Durham 
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havent got a clue, sounds a bit like quick fit charging money for dry air in your tyres   
 
[Edited on 08-07-2011 by JedDy]
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Steve 
Premium Member
 
Registered: 30th Mar 02
 Location: Worcestershire             Drives: Defender 
User status: Offline 
 
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oil is stored in a seperate compartment and pumped into the engine, oil falls into a shallow sump then gets pumped back to its chamber where its cooled etc
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Steve 
Premium Member
 
Registered: 30th Mar 02
 Location: Worcestershire             Drives: Defender 
User status: Offline 
 
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advantages are apart from the cooling, that you dont suffer starvation under heavy cornering etc
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tom_simes 
Show Staff Organiser: South Wales Premium Member
 
Registered: 12th Jan 05
 Location: Undy, Newport Drives: Skoda Octavia vRS estate 
User status: Offline 
 
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And it allows the engine to sit lower, meaning the car can have a lower centre of gravity. That's not normally a reason for modification though - that normally takes place in race cars or caterham-esque cars.
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Sam 
Moderator Premium Member 
 
Registered: 24th Dec 99
 Location: West Midlands 
User status: Offline 
 
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Do they have to be custom made for your car or can you buy off the shelf kits etc.? 
 
And what sort of prices are they?  
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tom_simes 
Show Staff Organiser: South Wales Premium Member
 
Registered: 12th Jan 05
 Location: Undy, Newport Drives: Skoda Octavia vRS estate 
User status: Offline 
 
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A lot more expensive than your £485 quote   
 
You'll need a separate oil tank as well, so you'd have to find somewhere to store it and they run all the hosing through the car to it as well.
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Sam 
Moderator Premium Member 
 
Registered: 24th Dec 99
 Location: West Midlands 
User status: Offline 
 
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Oh OK... Well thought I'd ask anyway as I wasn't sure what they were exactly!   
 
Probably no point getting such a kit for a standard V6  
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ed 
Member 
 
Registered: 10th Sep 03
 
User status: Offline 
 
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You can mount the engine lower due to a low profile sump. 
The scavange pumps can run dry and wont starve the engine of oil because the pressure pump will continue to pump oil as long as there is some in the reservoir. 
You don't get problems with oil frothing as the oil isn't sloshing about in a sump. 
You can get better cooling because you have more oil in the system. 
 
Not really things you tend to worry about on a road car  
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ed 
Member 
 
Registered: 10th Sep 03
 
User status: Offline 
 
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You've also got a bit of fail safe-ness going in because you'd normally run multiple scavange pumps too.
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lee303 
Member 
 
Registered: 1st Jul 08
 Location: under the nova usually 
User status: Offline 
 
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another benefit is that the scabenge pumps are efficient enough so you can run the sump under a vacuum thereby getting rid of losses due to the pumping effect from the piston movement, and the crank doesn’t skim any oil as it can in a wet sump, which also looses power, and they can generally cope with high revs better than o/e pumps 
 
but the main benefit is the protection from oil starvation during cornering/heavy braking, the cooling effect of the remote tank can actually be a pain in the ass on cold days on a road journey! 
 
[Edited on 08-07-2011 by lee303]
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danny_dub 
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Registered: 12th Dec 09
 Location: Fareham, Hampshire 
User status: Offline 
 
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To stop loosing oil in our track 205 me and the old man put a baffled sump on. Alot cheaper than converting to dry sump!
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lee303 
Member 
 
Registered: 1st Jul 08
 Location: under the nova usually 
User status: Offline 
 
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baffled sumps work very well, but don’t stop the o/e oil pump cavitating past 7750rpm like a dry sump does, in which case the price is a little easier to justify
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