Dax Rush MC - hayabusa engine - HELP!!!

[chubbsr1]

Hello all,

I bought a ready build Dax Rush from this website on sunday. what a great car. only problem is, last night I went out in the car and it has grounded out on the road and taken off a lump of metal from the sump. hence dropping all the oil on the road.

I don't think that the engine is goosed but I need to know what is the quickest way of getting the sump out of the car??

Can I get it out from the bottom or is it quicker to take the engine out??

I haven't done this on a kit car before so any help would be appreciated.

thanks

chubbs

[KITT]

I'm guessing it's a dry sump setup on the 'busa engine? If so then you won't have done any damage as the oil is stored in a separate tank, and as long as that still has oil in it, the engine won't have run dry. I take it you stopped straight away?

As for removing it, I can't see why you can't do it with the engine in place. I've removed the one from the car engined car, no problems

[Wacky Racer]

This is one of the biggest snags with "seven" type kit cars..

My Tiger has about 3" sump clearance...........

Anyhow, to answer your question, suggest to ring Dax direct and ask Brian Johns....

I would imagine new sumps are VERY expensive, but if you look in Motorcycle News, there are LOADS of adverts for bike breakers all over the country..

HTH.....

[liszt]

Hello.

Get yourself over to http://forum.rushowners.co.uk/

Shouldn't be too difficult:

Jack up car, get it on axle stands.
Old sump off.
Make sure nothing looks damaged.
New sump on.
Fill with oil.
Get car back on floor.
Jobs a goodun.

[Wacky Racer]

liszt said:

Hello. Get yourself over to http://forum.rushowners.co.uk/ Shouldn't be too difficult: Jack up car, get it on axle stands. Old sump off. Make sure nothing looks damaged. New sump on. Fill with oil. Get car back on floor. Jobs a goodun.

If only everything was as simple as that......

[chubbsr1]

thanks for the quick replies.

It's a wet sump on it, they hang down lower than the chassis of the car... not a great design feature if I ever did see one.

I will speak with dj sportscars and see if they will be able to tell me how to do it.

if there is anyone that has done this before, then please let me know.

cheers.

[KITT]

chubbsr1 said:

It's a wet sump on it, they hang down lower than the chassis of the car... not a great design feature if I ever did see one.

I think you'll find all Se7ens regardless of engine type will have the sump as the lowest part. Mine does

I'm surprised you're using a wet sump on a 'busa engine. I didn't think you can do that when it's in a longitudinal installation. However, I would guess it's a modified one with extra baffles etc in which case DJ Sportscars are probably your best bet

[chubbsr1]

I've spoken to dj sports and they were really helpful.

They reckon that you loosen the engine mountings and move the engine a little to get to the bolts that you can't normally reach.

He reckons that it's about 30 mins to get the sump out which is a right touch as I thought that it would be the engine out!

thanks for your help in pointing me in the right direction. if there is anyone else that has done this on the dax with the same engine it would be nice to hear from then to get more ideas on getting it done quickly so I can go and play again.

thanks

[busa_rush]

I don't think there are many bike engined owners on rushowners.

If it's a standard car then Holeshot sell a shorter sump that actually holds more oil than standard - talk to Peter or Gary at DJ Sports cars (www.daxcars.co.uk) - very helpful and will get you back on the road.

The sump simply unbolts so a new one or the Holeshot sump will just bolt up in place. You may need a new pickup depending on the extent of the damage, but it's only plastic and not very expensive and Jack at Holeshot can supply one anyway.

It's usually just the sump that goes, the lower casing is usually fine thankfully, or you'd be,ooking at a big bill !

[busa_rush]

chubbsr1 said:

I've spoken to dj sports and they were really helpful. They reckon that you loosen the engine mountings and move the engine a little to get to the bolts that you can't normally reach. He reckons that it's about 30 mins to get the sump out which is a right touch as I thought that it would be the engine out! thanks for your help in pointing me in the right direction. if there is anyone else that has done this on the dax with the same engine it would be nice to hear from then to get more ideas on getting it done quickly so I can go and play again. thanks

Just missed your post !

You'll need a new sump gasket too. I forgot to mention that. Ring Jack at Holeshot for his shallow sump, designed to fit on the Rush chassis or you can simply weld up the old sump if the damage isn't too great.

If you use a standard sump then you can move the drain plug to the side (on the end of a pipe) to get an extra inch or so of ground clearance.

Regarding loosening the engine mounts, that will help, depending how close the sump is to the lower passenger side chassis rail. Loosen the long gearbox bolt and then loosen or remove the top bolts that hold the cradle onto the chassis. (The cradle rests on the chassis so even with no bolts it's not moving anywhere !) Don't remove the cradle from the engine. I find that once they are loose I can push a large screwdriver or wedge between the cradle and the chassis to lift the engine up by about half an inch - that's all you'll need.

If there are any spacers (washers) under the bolts or cradle then make sure you put them back afterwards. These are used to allign the drive pins on the output sprocket so the prop runs true to the centre bearing or reverse box.

Hope that helps !

[busa_rush]

Just posted a long reply on how to do this and it's vanished !

Anyway, loosen the bolt on the gearbox casing and the bolts that hold the cradle to the chassis - you'll need to lift the cradle up by about half an inch or so. Make a note of where the spacers (washers) are if there are any fitted - these align the propshaft so the drive pins run true.

Wedge a screwdriver between the engine cradle and the chassis to lift the engine - you shouldn't need to disconnect anything first other than the battery.

Don't overtighten the bolts when you put the sump on - it's just ali so somehting like 12 to 14 lb ft is all that's needed, any more and you'll risk stripping the threads.

Use a new sump gasket - IIRC about £7 or so and make sure both the sump and the lower engine casing are smooth - I use a snanley knife blade to do this.

Might be worth buying the Holeshot sump. It's shallower, designed to fit the Rush chassis and apparantly holds slightly more oil than the std unit.

Hope this helps !

[chubbsr1]

thanks for your help with this, it's much appreciated.

I will get onto jack at holeshot and see if he can get me sorted out with a sump.

thanks for your help on this, no doubt I will be calling upon your excellent advice again if I get stuck.

cheers

Keith.

[busa_rush]

Sorry, when I say gearbox casing I mean the gearbox to chassis mounting bracket, just in case, no need to undo any engine bolts !

[chubbsr1]

got the sump out last night, it took about 45 mins from start to finish.

I can now see that the sump has been altered with the drain plug coming off the side on a pipe.

The sump has obviously been catching the ground for some time as there is only about 1mm thickness of cast where it has broken away and there is a lot of wear marks on the bottom of it.

I am going to holeshot today to see if there is anything that jack with be able to do to remedy my situation.

cheers.

[chubbsr1]

just a quick question for busa rush.

Can you tell me what it the best oil to be putting into this car?

I use a semi synthetic 10/40w on my bikes, should I use the same with this or would you recommend something else??

cheers.

Keith.

[busa_rush]

I used to use Mobil 1 4T fully synth and didn't have any problems other than high oil temperature, on a hot day it would reach 110+ C which is a bit high, especially as that was only driving on the road, a track day would see it a lot higher.

I switched to Redline 10w40 and not only does the engine sound quieter and smoother but the oil temp is at least 10 C lower too. I was told this would happen but was sceptical to say the least but it does seem to do the trick.

Some people say don't use a fully synth oil because the clutch will slip but most people have found this not to be the case with the busa.

If you haven't already it's worth joining the Yahoo BEC mailing list - everybody there has a bike engine in a car and there's nothing you can ask that somebody else hasn't got an answer for.

Was Jack able to weld up your sump or did you invest in a new one ?

[chubbsr1]

yes, I've spoken with Jack, but a friend of a friend has taken the sump to cut it down and relocate the drain plug on it, hopefully this will give me a further 15mm of clearance on it so it won't be happening again too soon, i'll just cut down the oil pick up by 15mm so it will fit back on.

I will go down to the bike garage and see what oil they have today, i've had problems myself with fully synthentic oil in bikes where the clutch has started slipping as soon as i've put it in.

I joined the Yahoo group yesterday so no doubt i'll be on there soon as well.

thanks again.

[chubbsr1]

thanks for your help, I've had the sump cut and re-welded and it's all working fine now.

well, i say fine, I went out for a test drive and when I engaged reverse it decided that it didn't want to work properly and it won't go back into drive now. oh well, at least the engine is working......

out with the spanners again tonight. I reckon that it's just a locating pin that has come loose as I've moved the engine and that will have moved the drive shaft. If I get stuck no doubt i'll be on here for a bit of quality advice again.

thanks a lot.

Chubbs.

[chubbsr1]

So, last night I opened up the drive tunnel cover and found a eurotech FR2000 reverse box that is not engaging drive fully, it is in half mesh and when you pull the level back to go into reverse then the unit locks the drive shafts up.

Has anyone any idea where these are manufactured? I have had a look on the internet and it hasn't come up with anything yet?

Can these units be fixed? if so, has anyone any experience with them? is it a common problem.

thanks

chubbs

[busa_rush]

The Eurotech isn't made anymore but Gary at Dax had welded their old demo cars Eurotech box several times apparantly. I guess you could fix it (or ask Gary to do it), they're very simple inside, or you could replace it with a Quaife reverse box, much, much stronger but £600+vat, or you could have a new front prop made and get rid of reverse completely, just use a centre bearing.

I've got a Quaife box and will be taking it out this winter to be replaced by a new front prop. It works fine but weighs about 8Kg and adds to the clonking. (Bailey Morris are good people for props and Fisher or Westfield for the drive flange)

(All this assumes your box is actually broken rather than a split pin come out or something equally simple, take it apart and have a look first)

You're not having much luck at the moment ! I can assue you, it will be worth it