M20 Baffles

[THE DUDE ABIDES]

It's a great day to revive an old thread.



I just recently made some oil pan baffles for the M20. As you can see, I made a few extras. My baffles are actually based off of LEANE30's template with a couple very minor changes. I just riveted one to my pan last night and it went in great. I'm running a windage tray as well and I'll be fitting an oil pressure gauge so that I can monitor.



The fit and finish are really good. I had to trim the first one I made to get it to fit without contacting the pump head, but I worked that change into the rest of them. So it should be a drop in, no trimming needed modification....other than drilling and riveting which is easy.


I figured I would see if any of you are interested in buying these baffles. I'll go ahead and price them for all you great r3v mother truckers at what LEANE30 recommended they should cost. $15 plus shipping (which shouldn't be too bad). That's a much better price than any other M20 pan baffles out there. I believe the next cheapest is IE at $45. I'm thinking this is a better piece too.

[JRKOUPE]

in PNW area.... a racer/fabricator makes a baffle.......its small and it works..I used an op gauge in the car while tracking.......it works.

look up

wes ingram

magical.

[digger]

Is that the same thing you get from IE etc? Some of pics don't load

[potatomash]

I'm quite surprised no one has replied to this threadjack...

Just found this gem, thanks man gonna get some cut!

[ehrnst]

Great work! Still available as .dwg PDF wasn't good enough for my shop :(

Martin

[LEANE30]

I'm quite surprised no one has replied to this threadjack...

[LEANE30]

In late January 2012 I produced an oil pan baffle extension plate design and installed it, I had a spare cracked pan sitting on the shelf, a big hammer to convert that crack into a hole, and a few spare parts (like pumps) laying around and mocked up a design on poster paper onto some card board & scribed/scan/repeat until i was satisfied. I then sent the vector file over to a local sign shop who has a router table and had them cut it out of .080 aluminum plate (.080" & .063" aluminum are common sign substrates. I would not use the .063", the .080" seems like a perfect rigid thickness) I then rivited the final part onto my current pan's factory baffle. I made a tight fitting design and it cost me $20 and 30 min, plus a gallon of gas to go pick it up. I had two plates cut (~$10 a piece) thinking I might experiment with one or have to file it back during install, but it came out great, so i have a spare... for that m20b23/731head sitting on a shelf next to my kegerator that eye-balls me every day when i come home from work, begging for parts and attention :mrgreen:

I haven't gotten a chance to really test it (on a track) however, hoping to get out there, but life just keeps happening. It seemed like an economical solution to the oil idiot light problem I was having on aggressive sweepers. I think this should do the trick for the degree of action my e30 sees, or might see during the future it'll have under my watch. High Plains Raceway will probably be it's first real track experience if i can keep my project priorities straight and resist spending money on the e34... outside of maybe a couple hopeful track days or autox's, my e30 serves mostly for my sole enjoyment off by myself without competition or stop watches, back mountain roads and summit passes.

I sized the holes for a 3/16" drill bit/pop-rivit. Three aluminum rivits and it's not going anywhere. So far i've put a couple thousand of DD miles on the car between intermittent garage hibernation stints, the baffle seems to do the trick for me. A windage tray would be cool, but i doubt i'd leverage that at all.








FYI, it's a PITA to install one of these on a motor that is in a chassis on a front subframe. it's quite doable, but you know how you only have like 1-1.5" of normal clearance when you drop the pan in order to drop the pump into the pan? - well how this fits nicely around the pump, also cuts that normal-condition work space clearance in half. just a heads up.

...the PDF file is 100% scale, so anyone can contact a sign shop or machinist with a router table and have their own cut out of .080" aluminum plate. A part like this should not cost more than $10-$15ea, tops. It would be a rip-off and an insult if it cost more than that. It's just a rediculously easy part to fabriacate and I think everyone should have one. Worst case you can print out the PDF file @ !100%! scale and use the print as a stencil and hand-cut a baffle extension plate out. Do this at your own risk, yada yada, if you have a problem with this or me you can go fuck yourself, other legal jargon, etc, etc... Email me for a .AI or .DWG file if you can't seem to make the PDF work for you and i'll forward an email with it to you for free. I can be reached through PM here or on the 'Tech. Happy motoring.

Edit: just uploaded the pdf here, images also link to the PDF, hope it works and all of you love it: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...SION_PLATE.pdf

[ForcedFirebird]

there's also oil coming out the wrist pin which is going to end up going inside the piston, and likely make it's way to the oil rings.

You mean there's oil coming out of the big end? The wrist pins are not pressure lubed.

[nando]

yeah that's what I understood, but I don't think so. or every specE30 engine would have broken by now.

it's not like the oil coming out of the bearings goes straight down - squirters are usually more about cooling anyway, but they spray on the piston not the cylinder walls. typically there's a notch in the rod that allows some oil to spray as well.

there's also oil coming out the wrist pin which is going to end up going inside the piston, and likely make it's way to the oil rings.

[digger]

x2 wow guys.

As already mentioned I'd be very skeptical as to what was actually the cause of your engine failure, your reasoning just doesn't add up. Been running an IE baffle and windage tray on my little M10 for the last 30k, I know its made a positive difference on a number of exuberant twisty-runs.

Drain-back is simply not a functional issue you are trying to make it out to be.

he seems to be saying that the reduced slashing of the oil, and reduction in oil cloud is stopping the oil from splashing where it needs to be for lubrication of pistons....?

[JRKOUPE]

I ran a baffle on my m20...no scraper. And baffle alone helped lo oil pressure on track...esp w/ long hard lt handers...

contact some pro 3 (e30)guys out in the PNW........they use em.....

[SkiFree]

The whole point of a scraper and baffle is to keep oil around the sump, not sure why you think that either a scraper or baffle would starve the engine?

x2 wow guys.

As already mentioned I'd be very skeptical as to what was actually the cause of your engine failure, your reasoning just doesn't add up. Been running an IE baffle and windage tray on my little M10 for the last 30k, I know its made a positive difference on a number of exuberant twisty-runs.

Drain-back is simply not a functional issue you are trying to make it out to be.

[thesalboy]

Thanks Nando, forgot ix runs different pump, pickup, and pan (and intermediate shaft).

ForcedFirebird, and everyone else out there, I intend to run a baffle but no scraper, and so would like to know if anyone has experience with that - good or bad.

Thanks again.

[ForcedFirebird]

Were you using a pan baffle? If so what kind?

Anyone else have anything to say about which pan baffles you've used, and whether you have experienced oiling failure using only a pan baffle?

Thanks much.

The whole point of a scraper and baffle is to keep oil around the sump, not sure why you think that either a scraper or baffle would starve the engine?

[nando]

ix pan is different - has a built in baffle/trap door. it's also rear-sump.