N52 oil pan design for Z4 engine arm based swap

[Digitalwave]

Some random thoughts from a former E30 guy that has spent this decade racing N52 powered E90s:

• The fact that this design is 'open source' is absolutely awesome
• 5 3/4 qts seemed crazy to me, 4 1/2 even more so. We run 8 qts in stock pans and 9 qts the aluminum Bimmerworld pan.
  • I'm not smart enough to make any argument about this being a bad idea, but it would make me uncomfortable
• The rubber baffle flaps are a good idea and we had them in the Bimmerworld pans. They get the job done. The Lotus guys that run them say the service life is about 2 years. YMMV.
• There are flush drain plugs you can weld into the bottom of the pan so you don't have to fight with locating the side bung as low as possible. They seal with an o-ring, though, and they are more prone to weep than a crush washer. But you'll probably get more out during an oil change than the side bungs.
• In the rear sump config, stock pans, stock pans with baffles, and the Bimmerworld aluminum pans all perform about the same. They all have pressure drops in high G braking zones, especially when followed by left handed corners.
• Despite the pressure drops, if we are diligent about keeping the oil fill level high (despite moderate oil consumption on track), we could maintain 8psi/1k RPM in all situations.
• The video in the last reply would have had me pulling my motor out for a rebuild. 30psi above 5,000 rpm, even almost up to 7,000 rpm does not seem acceptable to me. Many times in the video the pressure is still in the 30s at redline.
• Rod bearings have been less of an issue than we expected them to be.
• Some N52s shed a lot of magnesium flakes that hopefully get caught in your filter.
• I'm surprised nobody is selling an N52 swap pan on the market yet, as the swap is obviously a great option these days.

[hoveringuy]

The oil pressure and temperature post, or how well does this pan actually work?

See the post a few slots up for the oil filter housing pressure and temperature sensor welded into the oil filter housing, this is the video that shows ACTUAL pressures and temperature with the factor fluid cooler. The best data I had previously was that oil temperature in the pan gets up to around 265 degrees F, so the cooler obviously works well.

I put the G meter next to the oil gauges for easy comparison, lowest oil pressure is under heavy braking, the downhill braking zone would flash my oil pressure light when I had the M54, now it stays easily above 20psi. I haven't seen any similar logs. Conclusion is that the pan works just fine.

Also, E46 M3s aren't that big of a challenge.

https://youtu.be/Y_474qD4fEo

[benz-tech]

THIS. IS. SEXY! I don’t know if I can run a steel pan after seeing this. My friend has a bed plate also. Another friend is a master at the TIG. I think the universe is trying to tell me something. Hoveringuy needs to make a CAD label that we can spot weld on so credit can be properly shown. If I can BAR mine, Cali guys will be all over this swap. And beautiful parts like this will fuel that fire

[projectJTv4]

I'm kinda hard headed and want to keep the m20 oil level sensor so I had to improvise with this pan. I drew a flange and had SCS bend it and add m6 studs.

Pretty neat!

[hoveringuy]

Love the pan detail posts.
Reminds me of trying to fix a broken e34 M50 pan for my old 4-door. I think I went back at it half a dozen times because every time I tested it, it leaked. That old cast aluminum was nasty to weld, even after grinding out the edges/cracks, an inch clean up with scotchbrite disk, and a thorough acetone scrub...

i just got done fitting a dual pressure and temperature sensor to my oil filter housing and learned a few things... As Northern said, it's more difficult welding on cast stuff, especially something that's been previously used. I first tried welding an actual NTP bung and it was a disaster! I was chasing pinholes and leaks everywhere. Finally took the approach of just building-up material and tapping that directly, which seems to be working well. The Aim is registering those values now and can't wait to log that this season!

I was discussing this with an E90 racer and he said that the stock fluid intercooler actually works better than the big external oil coolers, which really surprised me.






Striker01 did a great job on his pan! He's upgrading from the steel pan.

The steel pan was good, but the aluminum pan is better in many ways but also a little bit more difficult to fabricate. There are some tips and tricks for keeping bolt head clearance with fatter aluminum beads on the flange, for instance.

-It has better oil control. The windage tray is fully removable and replaces rubber Cosworth flaps with stainless trap doors.
-It uses a stock E36 OBD1 dipstick
-Weighs around 7lbs less.
-better heat dissipation
-more clearance to the rack for moving engine back

I was looking at an M20 yesterday and I'm pretty sure this pan has MORE clearance than even a stock M20!

Here are two more teaser pics since I'm already posting....

[Northern]

Love the pan detail posts.
I have a weird urge to N52 swap my car now.

On mine I was less picky and ended up chasing down multiple pin holes after it wouldn't hold pressure. Lesson learned, take the few extra minutes and prep the aluminum properly.

Reminds me of trying to fix a broken e34 M50 pan for my old 4-door. I think I went back at it half a dozen times because every time I tested it, it leaked. That old cast aluminum was nasty to weld, even after grinding out the edges/cracks, an inch clean up with scotchbrite disk, and a thorough acetone scrub...

[N4nier]

I, for one, appreciate and like the detailed posts! Solid work.

[Striker01]

Last post about this pan, I promise.

I don't like all the scratches that ended up in the aluminum from assembly but I like the raw aluminum look. I condition wheeled most of the scratches out and then media blasted mine. Had it anodized clear to protect the aluminum, unfortunately the 40.... whatever fill rod changes color during the process. I think it looks kinda cool but use a different fill rod if you want it to stay aluminum color. At least the stud masking held up and they didn't get dissolved in the process.

[Striker01]

I like this pan a lot!! I decided to go ahead and make one for myself as well. I did have a lesson learned though.

For the pan we made for someone else I was very meticulous about using scotch brite pads on all the seams and then wiping with acetone before welding. His pan passed the pressure test first try. On mine I was less picky and ended up chasing down multiple pin holes after it wouldn't hold pressure. Lesson learned, take the few extra minutes and prep the aluminum properly.

I'm kinda hard headed and want to keep the m20 oil level sensor so I had to improvise with this pan. I drew a flange and had SCS bend it and add m6 studs.



Pan and baffle required trimming, also flange had to be cut after setting the depth of the sensor.



I think it looks pretty cool on there!

[Striker01]

The main baffle piece will require some adjustment to fit, this was by design because every pan will come out just a little different and Steve wanted it fit nicely. The key is to sneak up on it.



Once that piece fit correctly, I bolted on the top, marked the dipstick location and drilled a hole for it.



The dipstick confused me until Steve told me to cut the top on the tube off . I don't have any pictures but you can't get the dipstick far enough into the pan and still get the baffle in, the seat would need to be below the top piece. The solution is to set the seat where it needs to be for the baffle to fit and then cut off the top of the dipstick tube until the dipstick full mark is even with the top of the baffle. Then use a flaring tool to expand the top so the dipstick handle o-rings will slide in.

Few more pics after pressure testing and cleanup. You can see why the flange needs to be fully welded on the inside, bolt clearance required cutting back some of the outside welds significantly.

[Striker01]

Finished product.



This is a piece of 15mm ID x 20mm OD tubing that was pressed into a 20mm ID x 25mm OD tube for the dipstick seat. Once is was pressed in, I drilled it on a drill press with this tool

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FXJB912...fed_asin_title

to ensure it was round for the dipstick.





Weld it to the main pan top piece, make sure it doesn't protrude more than about an 1/8" below or you will have issues sliding in the baffle. Then weld on the top.

You can also see the one corner that has to be fabricated, we used 2 pieces to make it easier.



Once that was done my brother fully welded as much of the inside of the pan that he could get to, main flange is the most important as you will have to clearance some of the flange welds for the pan bolts to fully seat.

Don't forget the M18 x 1.5 bung for the drain plug.

[Striker01]

Next it was time to assemble and check fitment of the 3d printed (super cool) oil pickup, 1 or 2 of the support ribs will need to be cut out for this step. It comes in 3 pieces and requires some stainless steel mesh, that hoveringuy supplied and even included the dimensions for.




I bent the ends through the other piece to hold it together for welding, probably not required but I figured it couldn't hurt.


Flip the piece on the left over and weld it together, after ensuring the mesh is seated in it's seat. I struggle with this a couple times before I decided to interlace them.



Finished and ready to be connected to the other piece. IIRC a short piece of 1" OD tubing is required to join them together. These pieces did require a little sanding to get the tubing to slide in.



I used a 4mm allen so set the height, figure with the gasket is should be right at the 4-6mm clearance required from the bottom of the pan.

Set it, mark it, remove and weld.

[Striker01]

This thing pretty much fit together perfect, very little adjustment required.




Some hammering on this front corner to ensure bolt clearance.







At this point I recommend fully welding as much of the inside flange that you can get to, before you cut the ribs out of it.

[Striker01]

This is the only corner you have to fab yourself, from the cut off extra.




We started by welding on the back main piece to make sure the rear piece doesn't protrude inside the flange.



We made a mistake here. One of the rear main tacks popped during welding and I had to hold it down while my brother re tacked it. In hindsight we should've tacked the main pan piece before fully welding this. You can see in the pic below that I pushed it down just a little too far but didn't realize it until it was fully welded, not a bit deal but required trimming the main pan a little. That gap looked a little big to try and fill. (I know, that's what she said)

[Striker01]

Here it is taped together for a test fit.