Today I measured the capacity of the OEM Double Sump pictured below. This sump extension increases the sump capacity by 1.1 litres and assumes no intrusions into this volume. History suggests there should be an extended oil pick up, or double pump arrangement fitted, which would reduce this further. It still represents an increase of around 50% over the standard oil capacity, and was a major factor in why the racing Panhard engines lasted longer.

I have also included the thread specification for the cast boss, as you can use this and get adaptors to take various types of oil temperature senders.



You can also buy an extension piece that lowers the original mesh type filter, and a pick up pipe extension for the double sump conversion pictured above, so it can take advantage of the cooler oil. However, why you’d want to use the OEM mesh filter is totally beyond me, as roller bearings need clean oil with smaller particulate contamination than shell bearings to maintain their reliability or prolong their life.



This is the latest CAD for the double sump filter kit that is being manufactured. It combines the proven baseplate from the original filter kit, with some new parts for the factory double sump & OEM oil pump application, and this new version will be fitted to Brian’s engine.

Just had an update from the piston company, and they have sent me a grainy picture of the piston part finished.



The underside still needs machining, and the barrelling etc is still to do, but it’ll give an idea of how much shorter & lighter the piston will be.

I am going to improve the oil capacity on Brian’s engine, and as a stop gap I have bought one of these, which incidentally was also fitted to Ron Tyrrell’s engine. When it arrives, I will measure the oil capacity increase, and make a new filter conversion kit to take the revised filter cartridge, but all I am doing here is going over the old work I did on engine #4.



OEM double sump casting pictured above, with no sump plate fitted or oil drain plug. This conversion helped increase the reliability of the race engines, and was standard equipment for any modified engines.

The picture below represents an improved version, that I hope to make in the next few months.

Over the next few days, I hope to progress this a little further.

This is the raw tensioning wheel and simple pivoting lever. At the moment, the tensioner will only be in contact with the chain when the wheel is raised off the dyno roller. Initially I thought of using a spring to tension it, but I might use a pull rod instead, or a spring and rod combo to allow for a little chain slop.



So far it seems to work well by just turning the wheel by hand, in fact I could use this tensioner to lift the wheel & swinging arm, because the chain pulls on the sprocket and lifts the wheel when I apply too much pressure on the tensioning arm.