Engine Drivetrain 2nd Gen S Most liked posts in thread: R56 Oil Pan

Not baffled as far as I've seen.

They switched to steel rather than the first gen's aluminum which is good for a few reasons. Much stronger for those of us that have slammed cars. When you hit it on the street it's more likely to dent than crack unlike aluminum. It also means that it's a much cheaper part. The aluminum ones were $$$

Now who wants to talk about modifying the r56 pan? It's steel so welding should be easier. We could add baffles, shorten it, reinforce it.

Here's the realoem pic...

 

I couldn't find a pic of the pickup to see how it's made, but I did learn one interesting fact, the R56 engine has a chain driven oil pump!

The more I learn about this engine the less I like about its desgin.......

 

Yah I've been struggling to find pics of the pickup. This is the best I've found and it's not a good angle or anything. You can at least see the chain and orientation. I've been trying to figure out how low it sits in the pan to figure out how much I can shorten the pan.

What are the downsides to a chain driven one? I've never encountered one before so I don't know much about it.

 

Rally, have you considered going to a dry sump system?

 

Yes, that's another possibility I have on my list of considerations. I'd rather just shorten the pan because dry sump systems have their own downsides, one of which being the cost. The other consideration is just raising the engine:crazy:. I just need to move the pan up half an inch to get it above the subframe and off the ground :lol:

 

Don touched on it, what happens if you loose the chain?

Also, it looks like the pickup is in the round section at the bottom of the pump which would tend to keep some oil pooled inside it under cornering, but I agree, not as good as an actual set of one-way baffles. That said, this pan is very easy to remove/replace and since it's made of steel, it would be very easy to fab some up.