Maintenance on KMP259

[Morris]

Thought we show you guy's how we do the maintenance on KMP259. Like changing the oil in a car with a belly pan.



We evacuate the Dry Sump Tank and measure the oil that came out as well as inspect the oil for particles as well as color. Usually it's quite Clean ... but you never know.



BTW this is the way we change oil in Mercedes, Audi, and BMW..... all of the German cars that have belly pans need to be evacuated this way. much easier and faster and more complete. The evacuator will suck down to the floor of the pan.... as opposed to when you drain a pan there is about 1/4" of oil left in the bottom of the pan.



And you can see exactly how much oil came out each time....

[Morris]

Here the oil is 200*degrees coming out, so it doesn't matter how hot it is we suck it out and then take a Sample and send it to Blackstone for analysis.



I must say you have to be very careful as these cars are very hot when they come off of a Track or just off a Street test. But this makes changing fluids simple ..... we use a filter on the pressure side and another filter on the scavenge side before it goes to the Dry Sump Tank.

[Morris]

If you look below the horn button ..... on the bottom of the dash.... you'll see a small toogle switch that switches back and forth between the oil temp coming out of the motor going to the dry sump tank ..... and if you switch the switch the other way .... it measures the oil temp of the oil going into the motor from the oil cooler. The oil coming out of the motor is a faster response to an issue so we like to check it both ways. This is in addition to a normal Oil Temp gauge going into the motor.

[rodneym]

Morris,
What have your past analyses told you and how did you react to them?
Thanks!

[Morris]

Rodney

The black stone report will tell us a lot of info....such as what is our ZDDP levels and are they holding up ....is the viscosity of the oil maintaining it's level.....is there any water in the oil.......how much wear on the bearings...copper.........any Titanium in the oil.....valves....
There is so much to be learned with the analysis after you do it 3 or 4 times....as you start seeing various levels of metals in the oil.

[Dimis]

Apologies for the stupid question... humbly, what's the real advantage of knowing how much came out?

Is it tell you how much you consumed? or how much you need to put back in?

[fordracing65]

I still like to use the plug in the bottom, I know your dry sumped, but on a pan the screw is sometimes magnetic and you can see if any particles are stuck to it, I also think it ensures that all the oil came out, no matter what, your set-up is nice, car still looks cool...

[Buzz]

Interesting stuff Morris - thanks for posting. I'm always amazed by how pristine that aluminium front dam looks. One would think that with all of the track work it would take a few chin-plants into the tarmac every so often.

[JBCOBRA]

Morris, I Love your car! Bad Ass Mo-Fo!!!

[Buzz]

.....

[rodneym]

Thanks, Morris.
How do you set a base line? From your first analysis of a fresh motor? Experience?
Thanks in advance.

[Morris]

Originally Posted by Dimis

Apologies for the stupid question... humbly, what's the real advantage of knowing how much came out?

Is it tell you how much you consumed? or how much you need to put back in?

Dimis

When you evacuate the oil in a container you will inspect the oil for contaminants like Water,......intake manifold leak...... also how much you get out verses how much you put in, is it in the catch cans or on the ground....... The cloudiness of the oil for aeration of the oil..are we creating air in the system........and in general get a good sample from the tank to send to the Analysis.

[Morris]

Originally Posted by fordracing65

I still like to use the plug in the bottom, I know your dry sumped, but on a pan the screw is sometimes magnetic and you can see if any particles are stuck to it, I also think it ensures that all the oil came out, no matter what, your set-up is nice, car still looks cool...

We use magnets in the Canton oil Filter end caps..... on both the pressure and scavenge side of the dry sump pump. This captures any metal particles that are floating around in the oil. and they work well for us to inspect as well.




The idea of evacuating the oil out of the motor turn out to be a good one that Mercedes came up with and we used it on KMP259 .... especially with that belly pan.... it's torqued into place on the frame rails and changing the oil had to be done another way. The good thing is that now we can see what we are dealing with and can help us diagnose a problem before it happens ....

And then we have to evacuate the Dry Sump Tank and then run the motor for approximately 4 minutes at about 2500- 3000 rpm's and then evacuate the Dry Sump Tank again ..... that get's the other 7 Quarts out of the motor and oil Cooler. lot's of oil in this car.

[Morris]

Originally Posted by Buzz

Interesting stuff Morris - thanks for posting. I'm always amazed by how pristine that aluminium front dam looks. One would think that with all of the track work it would take a few chin-plants into the tarmac every so often.

Buzz

Quick story .... at one of the Run N Gun's .... my brother went off track going in to the S's.... and I kept telling him he was to slow thru that area of the course..... so he went out and didn't lift going into the S's.... and this time he flew off the track and the splitter acted like a Landscapers Sod Machine and shaved up all of the grass at about 2" deep around the S's.....I was eager for him to come in and asses the damage..... thinking it was going to be folded up or the whole lower side of the nose was going to be folded under..... well.... when he got into the paddock ...we took the Nitrogen bottle hoses and turned it up to 300 psi and blew out all of the dirt and grass from the radiator and front of the car..... what a mess.... but when we got it cleaned out ..... not only did the Splitter not move but you couldn't tell except for one little scratch on the passenger side of the splitter that anything ever happened...... it's a good reminder to this day.

So within 10 minutes we had him back out on the track doing laps again.....

Except this time I told him to try feathering the throttle going into the S's....

Worked much better and he did good .... and we tested the splitter the Red Neck Way.....

[Morris]

Originally Posted by rodneym

Thanks, Morris.
How do you set a base line? From your first analysis of a fresh motor? Experience?
Thanks in advance.

After the initial analysis.... you continue to compare the wear factors in the oil by how much Iron, Aluminum, Copper, Titanium, Steel, Brass, and Lead.

Also as you know ..... the viscosity of the oil changes as you run over time so we want to make sure the oil is holding up like it should. And included in that is ZDDP that will change as time and the motor run .... what you put in starts wearing down as the motor runs. So when you see the PPM of all of the Elements and then see them on a continuing basis, it's easy to pick out wear characteristic's of certain metals.

Amount of Water in the oil is another item we watch closely.... I only start our motor when it's going to run until it gets the oil up to 200*degrees .... to start it up to hear it, is not something I'm interested in.... But I must admitt that hearing that motor run up at Road America down the 3 big Straight away's is a kick in the pants and it has the big block sound but at 7000 rpm and pulling like a Missouri Mule....The Clydesdales just can't keep up....