Sump Baffle

When I first bought the car and drove it home from San Diego, I went around a cloverleaf getting off I-5, pushing it pretty hard.  About two-thirds through the corner, I noticed that oil pressure dropping, due to the oil being pushed away from the pickup because of centrifugal force.  I immediately backed off and the oil pressure came back to normal.

Since then, I looked around to see if anybody had a solution to the problem.  I found a guy in Australia who has designed a new baffle that keeps the oil around the pickup.  See the FerrariChat thread for details.

Installation of the baffle is not difficult. Like nearly everything on these cars, it just takes time.  Here are the steps I used to install the new baffle.

1. Get the car up where you can work on it, lift preferably, ramps if that's all you have got.  Be sure and use jack stands as needed.

2. Drain the oil and let it drip out thoroughly.  The more that drains now is the less to drip everywhere when the sump comes loose.

3. While the oil is draining, take out the dipstick and detach the top of the dipstick tube from the front belt cover*.

4. Undo the dipstick tube at the bottom.  The nut is 27mm (~1 1/16").  I used a 8" adjustable wrench which was short enough to swing.  A regular 27mm open end will be too long.

5. Inside of where the nut threaded on is an internal tube with a flared end on it. I used a pickup magnet and it pulled right out.

6. Disconnect the wire and remove the oil temperature sender at the front of the sump.

7. By now, the oil should be pretty well drained, so put the drain plug back in.

8. Remove all of the nuts and washers holding the sump on.  Be prepared for more oil to drip.  I removed the ones on the front and ends first and then loosened the rear ones.  That let the front drop down so the oil dripped off the front edge.  Have a large pan ready to catch the drips.

9. Actual removal of the sump is like a Chinese puzzle, just when you thing you are stuck, an extra jiggle and out it comes.  Just go easy and jiggle it out without using any force and don't drop it.

10. Clean up the sump, removing any oil and sludge along with any remnants of the gasket.

11. Remove the smaller baffle.

12. Install the new baffle and replace the original baffle back on top.

13. Drill two holes to secure the wings.  I tapped them for 5mm bolts, but through bolts or pop rivets could also be used.

14. Make sure you remove metal chips where you drilled.

15. Remove any gasket remnants from the sump.

16. Re-install the sump cover with baffles using a new gasket and your favorite sealer.  I found that it went in much easier than getting it out.   I used a couple of binder clips to hold the gasket in place on the studs while fiddling with the sump cover.

17. Re-install the oil temperature sender.  I used some Teflon plumbing tape on the threads.

18. Re-install the internal oil tube.

19. Re-install the dipstick tube, fastening it at the bottom with the 27mm nut and at the top*.

20. Put in the dipstick.

21. Refill the oil, ~9.5 quarts with a filter change.

* My car had a bolt, washers and a spacer holding the dipstick tube to the belt cover.  This was difficult to re-install as one needs two hands and there isn't room to get both arms in there.  After dropping them about 4 times, I gave up for the night.  Then I was looking at the parts manual to see if it showed a rubber gasket under the cover plate that is over the timing marks and noticed that there is supposed to be a stud instead of a bolt for the dipstick tube.  Since I was doing this in conjunction with at timing belt change, it was easy to remove the front cover and install a stud.  That made it much easier to get the top of the dipstick tube attached properly.