legacycentral bbs

I need to cut 3 inches of the bottom of my sump to get the engine low enough to fit in the boat. if i still put the 4 litres of oil in it am i going to cause damage by the oil sitting too high in the engine??

yes. The pan isn't just empty either and has baffles and whatnot. Without that stuff I think you'd be more likely to run into oil pressure troubles. Maybe you could use something like an oil accumulator or a remote oil reservoir dry sump type setup.

can you widen or lengthen the pan when you cut the bottom off?
dry sump would be sweet but difficult expensive or both.

Also,
You will need to address, not just the pan depth, but the pickup length...

ur right, dry sump too expensive. and i realise ill have to shorten the pickup, thats the easy bit. But that doesnt answer my question if im going to run in to trouble with the oil level sitting too high in the engine??

Possibly, yes.

If your oil level is too high in the pan, your crank may end up splashing around in the oil quite a bit too much.

i was more worried about the oil going down behind the pistons???

run an oil pressure gage and watch it closely. You can probably shorten the pan, remove the baffles and shorten the pickup without too much trouble. You are fortuneate that in the boat the forces tend to be straight down which means you can probalby get away with running less oil and less baffle. Watch the pressure.

So you want to run a steam boat! if the level of oil is higher than normal you face to much oil in the pistons and crank area resulting in an almighty bang and clouds of smoke. Just like if you over fill with oil. So to make up the lost capacity install a remote filter with the biggest filter you can find. Then extend the sump pan either forwards/backwards depending on space.Baffles etc are only for the G forces used when cornering, but you won't be doing much of that! I've done this on a rally car because of clearance and all worked fine.OH don't forget to cut down the dip stick!

A funny story based on the above. A woman at work in the UK complained to me that her MK2 Escort was smoking bad. I drove the car down the street giving it some and then there was a loud bang ! I looked in the rear view mirror to see clouds of smoke(like a blown turbo) behind me. Oh sh!t I've blown her engine. No.. once the engine had stopped miss firing it was fine. Turned out the engine block fuel pump was weeping fuel into the oil and the level had risen. I fitted a new pump and all was well.

cheers for that. Only that there will be g forces, prob more so than any car as this thing turns on a dime, like the sprint boats u see on tv so maybe the baffles are important??!!

Boats usually lean to the inside of the turn. In which case, most of the G force could be towards the bottom of the sump rather than the sides.

This leads to questions about the bow rising when accelerating from stopped. Oil would really slosh to the back of the sump.

Yeah you would need some sort of baffle. Try this although it's a little more work. In the area of the pick up pipe make a cylinder in the base of the sump for the pipe to sit in maybe 1" deep? do you have space?. This way there will always be a small amount of oil to combat any surge due to G forces. If you extend the sump fit in a baffle before you weld up the outer section. The baffle should have small holes in the base, this should allow some flow but stop any surges.

Figure out what your volume loss is with the amount of sump you're losing. I definitely second the big filter idea - does anyone know the flow rate of the oil pump?

I don't think bow rise would be more a problem than the forces generated in a rapidly accelerating car. It would also depend on how he drives it and it's planing angle.

I thought these would make good small boat motors - low CG, light weight, good torque band. What rpms are you propping it for and are you looking for hole shot or speed? Just curious, this is an interesting project I've thought about a few times (especially with my brother-in-law's Larson bowrider). What about exhaust and how are you adapting to the drive?

Mm, you do sound interested. Its a 12 foot aluminium jet boat built for boating up shallow rivers. We spend a lot of time run aground pushing, but this is half the fun. (pushing the limits!!)
Its a standard, what we call RS Legacy engine. 2l turbo, intercolled. Factory ecu and joint up to a 2 stage hamilton jet unit. It is direct drive to the jet unit with a basic drive shaft with 2 yokes or universals??
Not quite going yet, but it should do 55 mph. Not quite sure what u mean by hole shot, but yeah these really throw you back in the seat when u take off. More than any car would, and when u pull it into a corner, it just pulls round. Exhaust is simple, just car manifolds, and a piece made up after the turbo that just goes straight out the transom. I did wrap the manifolds in copper tube and run water through this from the jet just to keep the engine bay cool. although i know a guy that didnt do this and works fine.
Shit what a big reply. Am happy to help if u need any advice, pitter ur way over there coz these suby engines and really cheap to pick up here. I paid 200 bucks for mine which is prob about 100us??

whats ur email, ill send u a pic of her