Oil Pump Upgrade
Discussion
The RV8 is well known as being a low oil pressure design. One of my friends has a RV8 in a Scimitar and after chatting to him he has said a company called "Real Steel" do an upgrade kit to improve oil pressure. Has anyone else heard of this mod? Also, I have been looking on the net and can find reference to the company but there doesn't appear to be a web site. Can anyone enlighten me?
Thanks all. I have sent an e-mail to RPI (where my high lift cam is from) and I will call Real Steel. Matt - As I originally stated - I know that the RV8 is a low pressure engine but my engine has been rebuilt, compression is good, but even when caning it I can only get a best pressure of 25 psi, at cruising speed this drops to 21 psi. When hot, at tickover (800 revs) the pressure can drop below 10 psi. I just blip the throttle a bit and it rises above. I don't think the pressure gauge is reading low... Every one has a different idea about oils and god knows it has been covered exhaustively on this site. I do not want to get into that but I have tried a few different oils and have found that running a 15w50 mineral oil such as GTX or a synthetic like Magnatec at the same weight produces the same pressures. I will try a 20w50 but this isn't really the best answer. I want better pressure and I am confident there is nothing wrong with the engine so I will try and uprate the pump.
Gareth - my friend mentioned about uprating the oil pressure relief valve spring too. I will ask about this also. Your statement about higher oil pressure = higher oil temperature is strange, because when you first start the car at tickover my oil pressure is 25 - 28 psi. That would mean exactly the opposite of what you said. If that was the case then a larger more efficient oil cooler could be another idea. This sounds terrible but I don't even know if my car has an oil cooler fitted! It does take 6.5 litres at an oil and filter change so maybe. Will have a look later.
I have seen a couple of cars with oil coolers fitted into the front air dam in front of the radiator on wedges before. Looks quite trick to. Wheres my Serck Marston catalogue? (Pass the blue alloy fittings please!)
>> Edited by 350mk2 on Sunday 1st June 13:36
Gareth - my friend mentioned about uprating the oil pressure relief valve spring too. I will ask about this also. Your statement about higher oil pressure = higher oil temperature is strange, because when you first start the car at tickover my oil pressure is 25 - 28 psi. That would mean exactly the opposite of what you said. If that was the case then a larger more efficient oil cooler could be another idea. This sounds terrible but I don't even know if my car has an oil cooler fitted! It does take 6.5 litres at an oil and filter change so maybe. Will have a look later.
I have seen a couple of cars with oil coolers fitted into the front air dam in front of the radiator on wedges before. Looks quite trick to. Wheres my Serck Marston catalogue? (Pass the blue alloy fittings please!)
>> Edited by 350mk2 on Sunday 1st June 13:36
I will definitely try the hoses trick - that is a very good idea. Will phone RPI and Real Steel tomorrow and see what they say about the pressure mods too. I will definitely feel a lot better when I have sorted it. Oil flow would be improved by using a thinner oil such as a 15w15 rather than going to a 20w50 - is that right? I have heard that mentioned before and that is one of the reasons I have continued to use the 15w50 weight oils.
OK Gareth!
Your quite right, a liquid under high pressure will become hotter because of the friction, but there is that much heat in the engine from the explosion in the cylinder that it will be negligible in comparison.
Isn't a tadpole just an evolution of frog spawn?
What is tadpole???
>> Edited by 350mk2 on Tuesday 3rd June 16:19
Your quite right, a liquid under high pressure will become hotter because of the friction, but there is that much heat in the engine from the explosion in the cylinder that it will be negligible in comparison.
Isn't a tadpole just an evolution of frog spawn?
What is tadpole???
>> Edited by 350mk2 on Tuesday 3rd June 16:19
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