Calling ALL VG30 swap owners!

[benz-tech]

My dyno run ended with a rattling noise. Thought it was the trans, its been going for a while.
Turns out I have 6 of the new copper-colored rod bearings. The crankshaft is done- got a little copper on it too. Pulled the oil pump apart, its scored. Sooooo, I looked at my "6-quart" custom oil pan. It holds around 3qts to just under the windage tray! I have been overfilling it slighly to keep the oil light from coming on under hard braking, even with gates in it. since the crank hit the windage tray at one time, I am positive that 4.5qts in the pan (what I have been running) is turning into a foaming mess at high RPM and contributed to bearing failure.
Jeff at team thump did not build this pan, but it is supposed to be a copy.
Anyone out there with VG30's need to at least be aware of this possible problem.
I will be deepening my pan by about an inch- should add nearly a qt. Sounds ok but this will put the pan below the crossmember by about a 1/2" and I'm not real happy about that. I'm less happy about cooked bearings, though.
I will have to re-gate it and will put them closer to the pick-up. When I get back to work I will get some measurements for you to compare to yours.
Don't let this happen to you!

[vgwagon]

The VG30.com pan I have has had no problems what so ever, 70,000km of abuse, multiple drag days, multiple canyon runs all on a 300,000km motor.
Too bad about the bum pan, shit like that sucks.

[okayfine]

Jeff at team thump did not build this pan, but it is supposed to be a copy.
Anyone out there with VG30's need to at least be aware of this possible problem.

If you want to make people aware of the problem, you're going to need to post the fabricator of the pan. It sounds like it's a one-off pan, so...

[benz-tech]

I verified that this is NOT a teamthump pan. It also is NOT even a copy. It does appear to be an under-engineered one-off'er. I apologize for any concern I may have caused. Dman, I'll PM you to see if I can get some measurements before I fix mine. I work with a sheetmetal fab guy who's drooling at the opportunity.

[NasaRacing510]

Do you think a dual crank scraper would help keep this from happening or would it hold the foaming oil around the crank?

heres a pic of the VG30E setup from http://www.crank-scrapers.com/New_products.html

Im ordering this for my race motor. $59.95 in steel and $159.95 for a Teflon® bladed version

Rod

[okayfine]

Do you think a dual crank scraper would help keep this from happening or would it hold the foaming oil around the crank?

The OP's issue is a pan with less capacity than stated, so filling resulted in overfilling the crankcase. A scraper isn't going to do anything about that.

[NasaRacing510]

Benz-Tech,

Sorry I misread / Misunderstood your Post. I now understand that it was an over filling of the crankcase that caused this situation.

[benz-tech]

I am considering one of these. with the VG being an un-shrouded block, I think the crank is exposed to the oil more because the pans don't seem to be that much deeper than an L series for example (mine especially). Nissan was generous to include a full windage tray, though. And, Scrapers are theoretically "free" HP.

Nasa: I re-read my OP and it doesn't even make sense to me. Okayfine must be telepathic to make heads or tails of it.

[chunstone]

Would the oil dip stick tell the proper level of the engine oil no matter how deep the pan is?? My pan was made by someone and I have been using the dip stick to check my oil level, would this be correct??

[defdes]

Would the oil dip stick tell the proper level of the engine oil no matter how deep the pan is?? My pan was made by someone and I have been using the dip stick to check my oil level, would this be correct??

No, you have to "calibrate" your dipstick on fresh fill up with custom made parts, or mix and matched as in my case.

[cjr198car]

This may be an obvious question, but how much oil does everyone else use with the 6 quart oil pan from Team Thump or VG30.com?

[dislexicdime]

don"t forget to check your oil pump my friend had the same issue you have and his oil pump gear had a crack in it !

[cjr198car]

"This may be an obvious question, but how much oil does everyone else use with the 6 quart oil pan from Team Thump or VG30.com?"

-Colton

[benz-tech]

don"t forget to check your oil pump my friend had the same issue you have and his oil pump gear had a crack in it !

Oil pump was fine. No matter, though. Got a ported turbo A/T pump going in. I also added 1.5" to the bottom of my pan and pickup tube, changed the poorly positioned gates and added another fore/aft gate at the shallow end. The latter should cure the 0 PSI under braking issue that I'm sure more than a few dimes have regardless of the engine. 'cept for you front sump guys.

If anyone has a VG apart I'd recommend checking to see if the oil ports in the filter area line up. In my new engine, they were allowing maybe half the flow through their poorly lined up 90* machined areas. VG's supposedly need all the oil volume you can get, especially if you spin them, so pay attention to the details or your engine could end up like my last one.