I want to make a windage tray for my 200 so a question?

[Anlushac11]

I plan on making a windage tray for my 200. I plan to use thin sheet steel and sandwich it between the oilpan rail and the oilpan rail gaskets and use studs instead of bolts on teh side to locate the windage tray.

My question is some of you have worked sheet metal more than I have. What is a good way to cut the slots I want to allow for thrown off oil to return to the pan?

And some of you are probably saying why bother? you wont pick up more that a few HP?

Answer: In tests on V8 cars, some engines picked up as much as 13hp at rpms between 2500-7000rpm. Way I see it every little trick I can use to squeeze even a few "free" horepower adds up on the dyno. And It should be a fairly cheap project once I finish designing it and building it.

And my Mustang is intended to be a highway cruiser/Bracket racer so it will see lots of 2500-5500rpm usage.

I have drills, a Dremel tool, a die grinder, a hacksaw. I was thinking I might try a router bit in the die grinder or use the Dremel and a cutting wheel. I have nefver tried to cut a long slot in sheet metal.

 

[DaGr8Tim]

I'll bite. If you can manage afew free HP from a straight....then I may be able to get 4 or 5 from my 4 banger.

I'll like to keep track of your project and see how it works out.

 

[Anonymous]

i whas thinking for that sometime ago , got al the tools , and material , got a 100 ton puncher with cnc operation also able to do laser cutting ! , and got the slotter [ stempels ] in differend sizes ! but my problem whas the dimension for the windage tray , got no spare oilpan ore engine test fit , so thats was a problem too , i,m just needing a nice good autocad draw with dimension ,give me a nice draw , and you got your windage tray !! you get it the way you want it , figure out the dimension , i cant !!! no spare oil pan ore engine , and send them over, you wil resieve a nice windage tray from me for free then !

 

[Anonymous]

Cutting the sheet metal without a die will take time - and earplugs!

Use a moto-tool (like a Dremel) and the heavy-duty type cutoff discs. These will cut a slot .030" wide, even through 11 gauge stainless. Wear safety glasses and buy a whole tube of the disks (that's about $8 worth), because they will break along the way.

I'll venture a little advice, based on my experience with motorcycle engines (12,000 RPM) and FE Fords (that's '390' to most guys): Cut the slots in such a way that they will "slice" the oil off of the spinning weights. Cut the slots the full width of the weight (or just a little more). For instance, if the weight is 1.5" wide, make the slot 1.6" wide.

On motorcycle engines, the slots are merely cut open, about a 2mm wide hole (.080") that's as wide as the counterweight. They are mounted about 2.5mm (.100") from the spinning weights.

On FE engines like the 427, the 'slots' are drilled holes that have been cleanly chamfered - nothing fancy. The tray itself sits just .040" from the crank weights. I have seen some slotted ones with louver-cut slots, but most of us who use the FE get nervous about the possibility of these little tabs breaking off with vibes and taking up a life of their own.

The 200 could benefit from one of these because of the large number of weights. If I were going to make one (and I may, one of these days), I would skip the slots entirely and just make sure that the oil that slings off of the weights can't bounce back from the walls or bottom of the pan. This is the approach used by Toyota in their very successful 4-cylinder engines and by Honda in their production 4-cylinder bikes.

I'd be interested in hearing your results!

 

[Anlushac11]

8)

Looking around I have seen windage trays that have slots, some that dont have slots and some that have actually been made from a heavy wire mesh screen.

Most windage trays dont have to be as close to the crank as you mentioned. It sounds like whoever was trying to combine the functions of a crank scraper and a windage tray. I plan on having my crank polished, knife edged, lightened, and then dry film coated with a oil dispersant so oil should sling off very easily.

If you look at windage trays for 302's there really isnt alot to them. They have slots to let slung off oil drain back.