Photography Credit: Tradd Slayton
The N55 engine–like the one in our BMW 435i–is notorious for having oiling issues.
Here's how we fixed those issues with help from BimmerWorld.
This seems like a lot of monkey motion to get good oiling. I confess not being an expert on BMWs, but I did race an ELva Mk VII DSR with a dry sump equipped engine which never had a problem with oiling during heavy braking or acceleration. If possible why not go to a complete dry sump conversion? If no kit is available, perhaps you could devise a conversion. Good luck and enjoy racing!
NIKOLAT said:This seems like a lot of monkey motion to get good oiling. I confess not being an expert on BMWs, but I did race an ELva Mk VII DSR with a dry sump equipped engine which never had a problem with oiling during heavy braking or acceleration. If possible why not go to a complete dry sump conversion? If no kit is available, perhaps you could devise a conversion. Good luck and enjoy racing!
It's a bit of an involved fix, but the reason we went this way instead of trying to work out a dry sump on our own was that BMW had already done our homework for us. This is the same oiling setup that they put in the M235iR N55-powered factory race cars, which are frequently praised for their extreme reliability. Rather than try and reinvent the wheel, we went with the off-the-shelf know good solution.
The other issue with a dry sump would be packaging. The engine bay on these things is TIGHT. Trying to find a spot to hang another rotating accessory would be difficult if we wanted to retain the a/c. Then we'd still need to fabricate a custom pan, find room for a tank, and run the plumbing. Maybe if it ever gets converted to a full-on race car that'll be an option, as we can just leverage interior or trunk space for needed bits. But as a dual-purpose street/track car, BMW's solution was our best call I think.
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