04 Suzuki Oil Pan

[Tim9393]

Hey does anyone have any experience modifying the 04 gixxer oil pan and pick up successfully?

Trying to lower the pan depth without switching to a dry sump but have heard of a lot of these motors blowing up when they cut the pan.

[Tim9393]

Hey does anyone have any experience modifying the 04 gixxer oil pan and pick up successfully?

Trying to lower the pan depth without switching to a dry sump but have heard of a lot of these motors blowing up when they cut the pan.

[rjwoods77]

I heard about some sprint car guy working on it. Ill ask him and get back to you. hahahahahha.
Sup timmy.

[Ryan McCauley]

Tim,

We've done it succesfully on two '01 GSXR motors and haven't had a problem yet.

We chopped the pan a few inches and welded on a flat aluminum plate to the bottom. Just make sure you use some type of jig to bolt your oil pan down to when you're welding it, it likes to warp with even the slightest amount of heat. As for the pickup, we've used a metal pickup off some old 600cc Honda motors we had laying around that bolted right up. We cut a "pie" section out of the tube and folded it up until the pickup fit in the modified pan. I hope that makes sense.

Hope that helps you out.

[Kirk Feldkamp]

As long as you only cut off as high as the oil pressure relief vavle's pocket, you'll be ok. You'll still have to make a new pickup, as Ryan said. Just make sure you don't put the opening to too close to the pan bottom. It can interfere with the flow if you're not careful. If done right you can get about a 2.5" drop with no problems. It's a good compromise for lowering, but not having to deal with the development of a dry sump.

Ryan, what motor did you scavenge the pickup from? Year/model?

-Kirk

[Ben Beacock]

We did the cut'n'weld last year on the GSXR pan, but that was before we had the good welder and didn't clamp it down enough, so it both warped and leaked. We added some extra weld to one corner so that the drain plug came out the side. I've come up with a prelim CNC pan design, but haven't found someone to cut it yet. Make sure your baffles are damn good. We were fine for endurance but at the Toronto shootout a long sweeper ran it dry and killed a bearing/rod/crank.

http://uogracing.serveftp.net/images/20050404-shaded-oilpan.jpg

[Ryan McCauley]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by turbotwig:
Ryan, what motor did you scavenge the pickup from? Year/model?

-Kirk </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Kirk,
We picked them up off of a 98 Honda CBR 600.

[Tim9393]

Thanks for the reply guys.

I suppose i should have mensioned i'm using the motor in a sprint car, i know we are turning 2.2 G's in the corners so this may be one of the reasons it works for you guys but not for most sprinters (also it could be unique to the odd shape of the 04 gsxr). Anyone know about how many G's you'll turn while racing?

I know of at least 5 04 gsxr's that have been blown up in sprint cars around here just last year that have only cut 1-1.5" off the bottom of their pans.

2 guys claim to have solved the problem, both in different ways of course. One blaims it on the fact that when you cut the stock strainer/pickup 1-1.5" shorter the diameter at the opening is increased (it's a slight diffuser). He uses the "larger diameter straw is harder to suck through" analogy which doesn't actually apply to this situation, if you calculate the net positive suction head you'll see it's actually easier. He uses a thin Al pipe which he claims to work. The second guy says the oil lost due to the smaller pan is causing starvation. If you are familiar with the 04 oil pan you can see this is probably not right either because it's only about 3-4OZ lost.

Since the last post, i went through and found the level of the oil when cornering at 2.2G which is only about .25" form the pick up!!! So a little bouncing around might cause starvation with the stock pan. Also if you cut an inch off the bottom of the pan and the pickup, the pick up will almost surely suck a lot of air when your at 2.2 G's.

I think the solution is widening and shortening the pan so i can make a swivel pickup or a pickup favoring the right side of the motor (not really an option for you guys turning both directions) I did however have to make a lot of assumptions to get these results and am still somewhat afraid to make the mods to my brand new motor with 146 miles on it so still curious on some feedback.

Thanks a lot

[Dave M]

Do your rules prohibit dry sumps? also, where are you racing?

[Tim9393]

No my rules do not prohibit dry sumps but I don't really want to get into all that mess. I think some TQ midgets use dry sumps on 600's too. But you can try to convince me to switch if you feel so passionate about them....I have read all the dry sump posts but still don't think it's worth the trouble/risk in my application.

I race in NY, Canada, NH, and PA at Limerock, Starlite, Gasport/Humberstone, Ransomville, Paradise, Cannan, Maybe Lindas and Path Valley a little. Our races are 20-30 laps and i ran over 45 races with 10 lap heats and practice last year. The motor has to be reliable for a lot of races....

[Kirk Feldkamp]

I'd tend to believe the guy that did the smaller aluminum tube. The DSR's hit probably 2.5 g's regularly without any problems. The pan gasket is the baffle if you stop to think about it. The inscrutable Japanese did their homework yet again. If you don't uncover the mouth of the pickup, you aren't going to get air in it. If you enlarge the mouth of the pickup, it sure seems like you just helped that process along a good amount. Keep it small, and you'll be ok. The reason they 'blub' it out is so they can get a bunch of filter area on the inside. Just stick it on the end of the pickup...

If you jump over to the DSR forum (http://p081.ezboard.com/bdsrforum) they could tell you a lot more about higher sustained G's oil setups. Kevin Mitz at Rennwerks showed us how we could modify the pan (like described in my previous posts). I think he also has a few dry sump setups still up for sale. I know he's running one on his Cheetah DSR.

-Kirk