VICKERS MK6B's resto

[David Dunlop]

Colin.

Maybe playing with a little mathematics might solve the problem.

The 216 requires a certain amount of oil in quarts or litres. When the engine is cold, that oil sits in the sump, occupying a certain volume that should be able to be determined in cubic inches or centimetres.

For the normal vehicular installation, the sump shape is determined by any objects it must clear when the engine is mounted in the vehicle. If that results in a portion of the sump being deeper than the rest, typically the pickup would be located in that area.

If I remember correctly, the sump on the Meadows looked very evenly rectangular.

Is it possible for you to determine exactly where the bottom of the 216 block should sit for the power plant assembly to line up correctly for mounting? Then see how much clearance that gives you to mount a simple rectangular sump that will clear what it needs to underneath. Don’t forget gaskets. With that dimension, you should be able to calculate capacity for a rectangular sump to see it it will hold the amount of oil the 216 requires. If those numbers come out positively for you, then the next step would be to see if the existing pickup can be shortened, where it is, to fit the new sump, and where to place any drain plug to meet existing requirements.

Not sure if that makes sense, but thought I would put if to you for review.

David

[Richard Farrant]

Colin,
The easiest solution is to find a sump and oil pump/pick up strainer from a 216 engine used in a normal 4x2 vehicle, I am sure this will then suit your requirements. It would be useful if someone can give you the depth of a normal sump, which I am sure will work well.

regards, Richard

[Lionelgee]

Hello Colin,

There is a specialist section within the Chevrolet "Stove Bolt" forum dedicated to The Engine Shop. They might be a good source to answer your question about changing the sump and oil pickup arrangements.

https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads...gine-shop.html

There is currently 1,487 pages just for the Engine Shop so someone should know the information about the 216 engine that you need.

Kind regards
Lionel

[colin jones]

After looking at the comments it seemed a long process to find replacement parts which could take weeks and being the impatient person I am I thought it can't be that hard to change it, so I took off the spring wire and mesh guard and found the pick up tube was just hanging inside about 50mm. After checking the cross tube cover I decided to cut the shroud and the pipe which gave me the extra clearance I needed but only just. I took about 50mm off the sump and was able to graft it back on the same place.
I increased the depth of the front section which now gives me another 15-20%
more volume of oil. My sump plug is still in the same place which also lines up with the cover plate in the floor. So thank you for the suggestions. I should have not jumped the gun so quick

[colin jones]

Overall it took me about 5 hours but I'm happy with the outcome.

[colin jones]

I cleaned it all up and gave it a coat of high temp silicone based adhesive as a good insurance. I just need to give it 24 hrs to cure before painting.
Job done.

[David Herbert]

Colin,
The pick up assembly is purely a device designed to give the pump a pool of oil to draw from. The critical part of designing the intake to the pump is that there is oil there under all possible circumstances. In a tank this is more critical when the vehicle is going uphill as the engine will usually be at full throttle then whereas downhill it will usually be coasting so much less bearing load. Side slopes are a mid condition and flat usually easy to provide for. As I said before I think it is very important that you increase the oil capacity as much as is practical to prevent the oil overheating. It is not an option to use a car sump even if it was shallow enough to fit over the cross tube as you will boil the oil if you ever do any more than just potter about. Also loading onto a truck will let the pickup run dry as cars are not designed to be on that kind of slope. Remember that these tanks pitch badly both forwards and backwards in addition to the gradient.

Most relatively modern engines have the pipe from the pump going straight to the lowest point of the sump with a simple wire mesh strainer on the end and a tin shroud over that so that there only needs to be about 1/2" of oil to cover the intake. The CMP pickup is just a rather complicated version of that. Also modern oils have additives to reduce the foaming that wartime oils did not have. The CMP pickup would have been intended to try to separate air from the oil but that function is just not required any more.

You can have the pipe to the pump at any angle but the shorter it is the better. It is critical that it does not vibrate as it will vey quickly fall off ! It is also necessary that there is some sort of mesh to stop lose bits of rubbish being sucked in. Other than that it is just a matter of arranging things so that there is as much chance as possible of there being oil covering the end of the suction pipe. Sheet metal baffles that reduce the movement of the oil away from the pickup on slopes but still collect it from above can usually be designed and can be welded to the inside of the sump or fixed to the pickup as in what you have.

Not rocket science but just need some thought. Have fun !

David

PS: Colin posts much faster than me so I had not seen his solution when I wrote the above. I would put a horizontal baffle in the sump at the same hight as the new section and carrying on the line of the new section to almost the pickup. This would trap oil below it on uphill slopes but allow it to drain into the lower part of the sump on the flat. As it is you only have the capacity of the pickup assembly available when you are on an uphill slope and the oil has gone to the other end of the sump. The problem is that having reversed the engine the pickup is at the wrong end of the sump though I do agree that having the drain over the access hole in the floor is a good thing so the deep end of the sump needs to be where it is.

[colin jones]

Hi David, sorry I posted so quick but I didn't think I would have sorted my problem so soon. Just to confirm though, the sump is still in the exact same rotation and configuration. What I have done is shorten the depth of the deep end and increase the depth on the low end which gave me more volume of oil in total by probably a litre. I do have the original oil cooler to connect to as well. The pick up was shortened by about 50mm. This should have fixed the problem and I will find out today when I do another trial fit.
Thankyou everyone for your help.
Colin.

[colin jones]

I have made and fitted the two new engine mounts which are made on the same principal as the original. The drive train fits like a glove.

[David Dunlop]

Exciting times, Colin!

David