RR oil pan?

[MikeBlommel]

Hi guys, I'm new here.

Our team just had a CBR 600 RR donated to us, so I guess that's the engine we'll be using. It's a great motor, but the oil pan has a super deep sump that looks like it will place the engine much higher in the chassis than we would like.

We had the oil pan off, and it looks as though we could replicate the stock pan's flange on the CNC and fab up a sheet ali sump of the same volume but with less overall height. It looks fairly simple to section the oil pickup to suit the new pan.

Has anyone running an RR done this? If so have you run into any unexpected oiling problems or concerns? The last thing I want to do is burn up our only engine. There is no way our team could afford it!

Thanks,

[MikeBlommel]

Hi guys, I'm new here.

Our team just had a CBR 600 RR donated to us, so I guess that's the engine we'll be using. It's a great motor, but the oil pan has a super deep sump that looks like it will place the engine much higher in the chassis than we would like.

We had the oil pan off, and it looks as though we could replicate the stock pan's flange on the CNC and fab up a sheet ali sump of the same volume but with less overall height. It looks fairly simple to section the oil pickup to suit the new pan.

Has anyone running an RR done this? If so have you run into any unexpected oiling problems or concerns? The last thing I want to do is burn up our only engine. There is no way our team could afford it!

Thanks,

[Mike Claffey]

Hopefully not stating the too obvious http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif Strategic baffle placement will prevent oil pickup issues in cornering, so think about how things are going to be sloshing around in there.

Regards,

Mike
UWAM

[MikeBlommel]

I guess I should have been more specific. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

We plan to put baffles in, but I'm more concerned about issues with modifying the pickup tube and the general shape of the sump.

The tube part of the pickup is only spot welded at either end in a few places, so I had thought we could just remove the pickup from the bottom, cut the tube and re-weld the pickup back on. Never having done this I don't know if it will create issues with the oil pump. I'm assuming not because I've seen similar things done with automotive engines. I don't have much experience with motorcycle engines, so before I go chopping things up I thought I'd ask everyone here.

FWIW we plan to retain the stock sump to pickup spacing (distance from bottom of the pickup to floor of the sump).

Thanks,

[TG]

We were looking to do this exact same thing with our engine. That was until the vp decided to pick up the engine for his senior design project and it's now going to have a dry sump and turbo on it.

[Andycostin]

We've run a shortened sump for the past two years, and the pickup height has been modified in both of them. Should be right if you do keep the same sump to pickup spacing, and make sure that you don't lower the oil capacity too much, or you may have probs with oil cooling and other things. Also, play around with any baffling with some models, make them and just see how the oil reacts to moving the sump around in your hands to simulate cornering and accel/decel forces.

[aniLD]

We have designed a dry sump system for our RR this year due to the ugly sump shape, it hasn't been easy. We went all the way with 3 stage pumps and a CNC'd sump (35 mm) high.

Looking back on it all, I would leave the thing alone and put up with the height, there are many other things you can make gains on unless you are all out of things to do. The original design is great as there is very minimal chance of the pickup being uncovered, it is light and reliable. We have had several cases of engine damage in past years (with other engines), due to a shit factory sump design (good on bike but not on car), or poorly modified wet sump setups (with baffles).

What ever you decide to do just be very carefull if you dont have the resources for a stuff up.

[Greg H]

Mike,
We have done just what you were asking about. We chopped a significant amount of the pan off, but increased capacity by making an aluminum box with baffling that's welded to the pan. We chopped a major part of the pickup tube out, including that bend, and rewelded it together. I suppose you haven't got an '05 model, because it has a plastic pickup and we had to order the older metal version for this year. I might be able to dig up a picture later. I should add that we used a 600RR and we have had no problems in 50 plus hours on the car.

[MikeBlommel]

Thanks guys. That's just the info I needed. This will help us out a lot in getting our engine placement squared away.

Plastic pickup? WTF was Honda thinking? I think our motor is an '02

[osubeaver]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by MikeBlommel:
Thanks guys. That's just the info I needed. This will help us out a lot in getting our engine placement squared away.

Plastic pickup? WTF was Honda thinking? I think our motor is an '02 </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Kawi does the same thing with the ZX-6R. The stock oil pickup is a big ass piece of plastic with a screen built in. It seems to do the trick.

[Ryan McCauley]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Plastic pickup? WTF was Honda thinking? I think our motor is an '02 </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
In '04 the RR went back to a metal pickup. The 2001-2003 gixxer also has a plastic pickup. We used a cut and welded Honda pickup on the gixxer the past two years.