Chopping steel sump

[alga]

I lucked out and found a Sierra with a dead 1.8 CVH being broken. I got a sump, a starter, and the indicator switch for ~13 quid.

I just wanted to share a good tip I got on a local chat on checking that the sump is oiltight after welding -- smear the seams with chalk and fill up with water. Within a minute or so all pinholes will reveal themselves as small spots of damp chalk, and larger leaks will wash down the chalk around them. It took me 3 or so iterations to get the sump completely watertight. One extra feature is that chalk residue does not seem to contaminate welds. Calcium is often intentionally used in steels.

Speaking of the CVH sump, it's not an ideal fit for Zetec, but can be made to fit. It touches the oil pickup post in the front and the rear bearing cap in the rear. The Zetec's splash guard plate had to be persuaded with a mallet not to touch the sump, too. The sump's shallow end had to be cut out in order to accomodate Zetec's oil pickup pipe. Also the mounting holes had to be extended ~2 mm to the rear. Here's a photo of the final result:

http://locost.lt/pic/537

For the progress pics, take a look at my LT thread:
http://locost.lt/viewtopic.php?p=2423#p2423
http://locost.lt/viewtopic.php?p=2428#p2428

[alga]

Oh, in order to get the height of 15 cm I had to take off just 2 cm of the bottom. The volume of the cut down part is 0.5l.

[Talonmotorsport]

Well done it's not easy to weld thin material with out blowing holes in it from one end to the other.

[baz-r]

i used the water trick when i cut & shut my ally zetec xr2i sump (no chalk).
i was going to use the sump from my doner cvh but as the zetec had a pickup at the front and i had a tig i converted that. set level with the bellhousing of a type9 i lost 0.5l too worked real well

[alga]

Further info about the 1.8 CVH sump on Zetec: the original gasket sits in a recessed channel in the cast ally sump, so it does not work with the steel sump. The CVH sump silicone gasket does not quite fit. The front arc of the gasket is 5 mm thick, whereares the gap is just ~2 mm. This prevents the gasket from sealing in the part of the flat sides. The arc around the rear crank seal seats OK. I'm going to cut out the front part of the gasket and fill the gap with silicone sealant.

Also, it turned out that I got the sump without reinforcing strips that go under the bolts. The thin sheet distorts under the bolts, event with just 6 Nm torque and with huge washers. I'll try to get the strips or make them myself out of 3 mm steel.

[Bonzo]

Nice work on your sump Albert :)

I was sure that I had a pair of those reinforcing plates out in my workshop.
Had a very quick look earlier & can only find one of them, I am sure that I wouldn't have thrown the other one out. :confused:

Will have a better look tomorrow, if the other one turns up I would be happy to pop them in the post for you. :)