Is 3.2 m96 plastic oil baffle stock?
 

Planning on doing some novice HPDE in the upcoming season. Novice run group on summer non ‘R’ tires. Just wanted to confirm that the plastic baffle (‘bulkhead’ as it is called in the PET, part #25) is stock on all m96 3.2 engines. Is this correct?

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...1c24084699.jpg

Stock m96, planning to run ‘just below one bar’ below fill line (so just barely below 2 gauge bars total) to compromise between AOS issues and oil starvation issues. Sound good?


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Yes it is not that it does much. At novice level on street tires should be fine

It can depend on the track too. If you have long sweeping corners, the oil can slosh out. Shouldn't be a problem, but consider the track in the equation. Throwing a better baffle in would be a nice winter project that wouldn't take long to complete.

Perfect. That's where I run both my cars and the CSS sees track duty.

Thanks Quad and Husker. I’ll probably be at Lime Rock with HVR and CVR for at least a couple of sessions. Maybe Watkins Glen with CNYR. I’ve been racing karts the last three years and I did the 3 day HPDE class at Bondurant in 2015 (one of their serious classes, not an ‘ego’ drive) but apart from Bondurant I haven’t autocrossed or done any other track work in a full size car since the mid 80s so I’ll start with PCA as a novice. Need to get to know my 986 on the track and the tracks also.

Not looking to break any records, just to go out and have a good time and to be there for some of our new HVPCA members who don’t have any experience at all being at a track, much less participating in these types of events. Several of them of them did our ‘Taste of the Track’ drive around event this last season and they want to pursue the HPDE events.

I might go ahead and do a sump and oil pickup mod as suggested. It’s an easy upgrade that’ll give me extra piece of mind for sure.

Changing to the “Motorsport” baffle (x-51 I believe) is fairly simple. When I dropped my pan, one of the oil flap keeper tabs had sheered off at some point. So knowing that the doors are hinged and solid on the upgraded baffle is a tiny piece of mind. I did the baffle offered by Pelican, it isn’t the Porsche baffle. It comes with all the stuff to install, new bolts, proper pan sealant etc. I also did the oil pump update as well.

Thanks Geof. I checked Pelican yesterday. They have the LN baffle, .5 quart kit and oil intake extension. I think I’m going to order these directly from LN or Pelican today depending on who has the best price overall. I have 108k miles on the car so I imagine the plastic baffle has about had it anyway. In any case, it’ll bring some additional piece of mind.

Just ordered the .5qt sump extension, oil pickup extension and x51 type baffle from LN on their Black Friday sale. Along with my new AOS installed last winter I should be good to go.

I installed those parts in my 2002 when I was having a problem with gigantic smoke bombs under braking and in left hand turns at the track. (It didn't fix the problem, BTW. It was the passenger side scavenging pump that had been improperly indexed when the valve cover gaskets had been replaced). It is a straight-forward process to replace the parts, other than possibly having to do some trimming so the baffle fits correctly. Be cautious installing the new sump bolts, I half-stripped one. Fortunately, it doesn't leak.

I found that at 150,000 miles, my plastic baffle was in perfect shape, so YMMV.

One thing to note is, when installing it is a tight fit due to the better seals around the baffle. It has to go in dead on the money, it’s doesn’t leave any play at all. It will seem too tight, but it does fit...

Another tip, test fit first without any silicone on. I learned thst lesson the hard way...twice

Will do, I have both inch/lbs and low ft/lbs torque wrenches. I’ll be sure to use them.

Thanks, noted. Also, I’ll do test fitting as Quadcammer recommended prior to applying the gasket goop.

I bought an EBS and it needed some "adjusting" too.

IIRC thstone has a thread indicating the same, so I’m anticipating a ‘custom fitting’ session.

Ok, I wanted to add a tip to all the good advise you already got..

If you cut off the head off 3-4 extra bolts (now studs..), you can use them to align the oil pan with the engine block during the final installation, this way you will not be making a mess with the sealant by moving the cover around.

If you cut a slot on the headless bolt (with a dremel tool), you can use a small flat screw driver to remove them from the engine and replace them with the correct bolt for final torque.

Hopefully my explanation makes sense, good luck!

It makes perfect sense. Awesome tip, thanks!

I know this is a late comment but. Running Watkins Glen this is a good idea to replace this baffle and add the LN extension. When I was a novice there I smoked turn 6 two times. You can get G's on 3 axis in that turn Braking down hill, compression as you change from downhill to slight up hill out of turn, and radial G's of the left turn.

Thanks jsceash, parts are in. I’ll wait until my spring oil change to install everything. I’ll probably do the CNY 48 Hours of Watkins Glen this season so good to know the car will be prepped even if I’m not ;)