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Old 05-03-2004, 08:49 AM
bmcmillan bmcmillan is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Yorba Linda, ca
Cobra Make, Engine: B&B non-donor, 496 Genesis SO (608 HPwith 9.4:1 CR), Tremec TKO, Currier 8.8
Posts: 187
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This could be good news and bad news. I have never been on that race track. If it has some long, fast left handers and you are losing oil out the right side, it means that you have one of the rare cobras capable of more than 1 G lateral force!

All 90-degee v-type engines will have the oil flowbackwards up the drain holes to the valve cover of the outside side at 1 G (think about it for a while - it will make sense). This is caused by centrifugal force.

Three solutions:
1) If you really like tracks with long, fast turns, you need to install an oil pan designed for this purpose. It has trap doors to keep oil in the pan - not running backwards up the drain holes.
2) An easier solution is a crossover tube between the valve covers. The breather needs to be on the crossover and the crossover needs to be the only opening in the valve covers.
3) This is the least acceptable - drive on tracks where the corners are not as long so the oil cannot run up to the valve covers.

I learned this lesson after multiple blown engines at Willow Springs in So. Cal. You are in turn two for what seems like five minutes and puckered up in turns eight and nine longer.

Sounds like you have your car working well and you know where the throttle is and what to do with it.
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