Sat, 10/02/2010 - 23:32
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A quick question,
I have a '59, R69 with a old style [lot's of fins] aliuminum oil pan. In the past I've used the original dipstick to add "extra" oil to the fill mark. I believe I recently read the larger pan was not to add capacity, but to reduce windage in the pan, that is to reduce any possibility of foaming? My riding style is fairly relaxed, but it's no garage queen, having just returned from a Airhead event, approx. 800 miles in 3 days.
Is there any downside to filling to the original fill mark on the dipstick?
thanks,
Rob Jones
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Sun, 10/03/2010 - 10:02
#2
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Unless you are sure that the
Unless you are sure that the oil pickup was lowered when the deep pan was added, I would use the dipstick marks as a guide (which means addiing a liter or so to the original stated capacity).
My R90S has a deep pan and the PO was not sure if the oil pickup was lowered, so I fill to the dipstick marks. I plan to pull the pan to check in the hear future.
Bruce
Sun, 10/03/2010 - 11:59
#3
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Yes, the oil pickup was
Yes, the oil pickup was extended by means of a aluminum block spacer. I believe it is an original aftermarket pan from "back in the day" as all the deep pans i've seen up until lately have fewer fins, by about half. I think I recently saw that S.Meyer had one similar to mine so maybe the older style is avail. again. It also has the tab for the sidestand spring, but I have a Brown-type side stand so I don't use it.
I always figured as long as the sump is not overfilled, more oil is better than less oil. rj
Sun, 10/03/2010 - 13:06
#4
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Not starting an oil thread!
more oil is better than less oil
Up to a point, but I would agree. They also say "any oil is better than no oil." Hard to argue with that. 
Wed, 10/06/2010 - 10:38
#5
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The deep sump aluminum oil
The deep sump aluminum oil pan is designed to cool the oil not keep it cleaner. The old air head BMW racers used a deep sump pan for that purpose. With the stock shallow oil pan most of the oil is circulating in the hot engine while it is running so it never really gets to cool off. With the deep sump pan there is a quart or two of extra oil in the aluminum pan being cooled before circulating back into the engine. A low tech oil cooler.
Shrader mentions this in one of his posts.
This has nothing to do with the crank "splashing" in the oil because the upper level in the pan doesn't change.
You still use the stock dip stick and fill to the proper level on it. With the deep sump you are carrying more oil, but the upper level will still be the same.
Hope this helps.
Dean
Wed, 10/06/2010 - 10:54
#6
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deep oil pan = same dip stick readings
yes - the dip stick readings are still valid for level
checking. You of course have added total capacity -
but the " FULL" is still the "FULL" mark no matter what oil
pan is used.
I would be very worried about a deep pan that did not
have the added oil pick-up spacer installed!
mine is a S.Meyer Germany supplied 'deep' pan
w/oil pick-up extension - very available
I've never really understood what this term means and how it applies to our engines. I just looked it up on-line and I'm not sure it applies. I wonder if people think they can minimize the cranking splashing in oil if they can lower the level?? This can never happen...you'ld have to add another 2-3 quarts of oil for the level to get that high.
Lowering the oil level does increase the total air volume which can be helpful to reduce the internal pressure on the seals when the pistons are returning from TDC towards the crankshaft. Maybe this is the "windage" that people are referring to.
I really don't think there's much downside to adding a deep pan and filling to the level on the original dipstick. There's more oil to run through the system so all of it won't get dirty as quickly. The circulating oil will stay in the sump a little longer and maybe have a chance to loose a bit more heat.
Possibly you could get the best of both worlds by adding an extension to the oil pickup and then adding maybe 1/2 quarter less on the original dipstick. It would be very important that the extension can never such air should it come loose. This was a problem with some of the /5-on bikes.
One downside of the some of the deep pans is that the built-in tab for the sidestand spring might not be there.
Kurt in S.A.
'78 R100/7 '69 R69S '52 R25/2