Having chosen to use a modified wet sump system we had to be a able to test without loosing oil pressure and yet another engine!
Our two issues – Pressure and Cooling.
Pressure – Our choice has been to fit an Accusump, talk to some and they say they do not work with high revving bike engines and others (including side car riders) who have run them for years with no issues. The problem appears to be that if the system relies on being triggered by a simple low pressure switch, by the time it’s activated it’s too late!
Our solution – we hope – is that the Accusump is triggered by the ECU dependant on revs and any associated pressure drop. So if there is a drop below a set pressure at certain revs it triggers the Accusump to increase pressure/oil supply before the pressure has time to drop to a damaging level.
Cooling – Keeping the engine cool was another issue we looked at during the engine swop, eventually deciding to fit two water rads with a total of four sensors to check how it all worked and we opted to use a Laminova to cool the oil, once again using sensors to monitor how effectively this works. Initially we ran Rad#1, then through oil cooler and then Rad#2, after the first rolling road session this was changed to both rads then the cooler to try and reduce oil temps.
Does it all work? – only time and testing will tell.
We are still refining the revs/pressure table, but we can see it working and maintaining pressure even with the slightest drop. As for the Oil Cooler, whilst on the rolling road and during initial testing we are still struggling to keep the temperature under control, water temps are ideal but we are getting an engine oil temperature at the top end of where we need it to be, so as we have ‘capacity’ within water temps a larger cooler seems the solution.
Update...
New larger Laminova fitted. With apparently high oil temperatures once again at Silverstone, we took another look at a few of the ‘squiggly lines’ the ECU and Dash supplied and came to the conclusion that fitting the Oil Temperature sensor within 50mm of the exhaust was possibly not a good idea even behind a heat shield!