MX5 Sump... mad idea?
 

So now my build is nearly over, my mind has inadvertently been thinking of other matters/puzzles. I never liked how much the MX5 sump hangs down. I've no doubt it'll take a good solid whack or two to damage it but still. A sump guard only makes grounding out issues worse, I've found. So.... I thought about chopping sumps (it's cast alloy), dry sumps (stupid expensive). And then thought, "hang on, what's the mazda 1.6 323 sump made from?".

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ADM561201-...em462464 fbe3

Steel! So chop one of them instead and fit that? Anyone see any issues with this, other than it won't bolt up to the gearbox?

This is a post IVA thing btw.

It's a crazy idea, but it might just work!

I've been scraping my sump fairly regularly recently :eek:
I think my suspension must have softened over time as it never used to hit the ground.
One of my winter jobs is to come up with some kind of guard. Or possibly just raise the ride height if I'm feeling lazy :o
I'll be interested to hear if this idea works though!

been thinking on those lines this morning
check out
http://forum.wscc.co.uk/forum/index....ur-sump/page-2

There should be no problem with welding the ali sump; it's been done before.

But IIRC the later 1.6 90bhp sump is steel.

No it's Ali. I have a 95 1.6 90hp. Apparently cast Ali is difficult to weld.

My main concern is losing 4 of the 8 bolts that hold the engine to the gearbox!:rolleyes:

Sump looks very strong/structural don't you think?

I think you are correct in saying that it 'was' structural as you need to remember how the back of the gearbox was tied to the nose of the diff, if there was only four bolts around the top of the gearbox the diff could have snapped the bell housing under load.
How ever in the Roadster you support the back of the gearbox on it's own rubber mount in the tunnel, it does not have the diff acting on it you could in theory get rid of the bottom section.
There is a 200sx in the unit next to me making near 280hp and that has only ever had four bolts holding it together and that is used for drifting. I personally would spend the £25-60 that the steel item costs on paying some one to TIG the cast ali item once I'd worked out the sump oil pickup.

Oh really, that's interesting. Looks like something worth trying then. Cheers

You're right, my apologies, got confused with another Mazda engine.

If you are worried about strength you could run two bars from box to block like ford used to do even with all the bolts in on the ford.

Yes I thought about that too. :) Thanks.

Here's mine. Welded up by kev. I supplied the pre-cut sump and the pre-cut 6mm ally plate and ally sump plug boss. It sits 25mm under the chassis and will possibly end up with a home made kevlar sump guard at some point. It has two bosses welded in, the top one for future turbo oil return if i go down that route. In hindsight, 6mm is too thick and 4mm would have sufficed and been easier to weld. oil pickup was also shortened to suit.

This is on my todo list as I have scraped a few of those narrow speed humps already.

Cheers
Stot