Ecotec oil pan replacement

[positron]

Time for some tech talk...

Lookie what I got.. It's a LE5 Solstice pan.. It's suppose to be an improvement over the LSJ pan with respect to oil slosh while in high speed pursuit.. Don't have any logged data to be certain if I have a problem but this came about as a solution while I was researching ways to log oil pressure data using the Traqmate I/O box relative to g forces at different locations on track particularly at high RH loadings.

Will be installing in a couple of weeks during routine off season maintenance with something for the top end..

[Lane]

I believe that this swap was suggested to me and one point when in a conversation with Unique Tom shortly after I picked up my car.  When you do the swap, please be sure to take a lot of side-by-side pics to illustrate the differences. 

[positron]

So far the most obvious is the deletion of the small galley where the webbing is. (The strategic placement of the Canada eh? sticker.) My supposition is that in the current construct oil would slosh to that galley. Having none it is more likely to stay with the pickup..

Once I crack the seal and expose the tender underbelly I'd like get it all done in one day.

[Terry Kennedy]

[quote="Positron"]
Once I crack the seal and expose the tender underbelly I'd like get it all done in one day.
[/quote]

If you're going to do it with the engine still in the car, you need to remove the 2 passenger-side motor mount bolts and jack the engine up about a half inch or so in order to wiggle the old pan out. I don't know what is needed for the alternate style pan.

[positron]

At first look the perimeters appear to be the same. I'm assuming I'll have to remove the supercharger because of the closeness of the MAP to the frame to get the 1/2".

Considering cutting of the A/C horn as we have no need for it.

[Terry Kennedy]

[quote="Positron"]
At first look the perimeters appear to be the same. I'm assuming I'll have to remove the supercharger because of the closeness of the MAP to the frame to get the 1/2".[/quote]

When I took mine off, I just took out the 2 bolts and went for it

I was pissed (for UK-ers - angry, not drunk) at the time because of the suspension failure (that caused the oil pan to be ripped open on the ground) and Brammo taking me a week to overnight me a new pushrod, which caused my Atom to sit at the end of my driveway (in a somewhat skeezy urban area) because I couldn't get it down the driveway until I got the part. So as soon as I got it into the garage I put it up on jackstands and went to work pulling the oil pan.

[positron]

Sorry I didn't get any side by side shots but you can see the difference straight away. There is no place for the oil to slosh to the drivers side away from the pump. Had a bit of a hard time to remove because of the girdle studs/nuts protrude down a bit further than the OE bolts, so it took a bit of wrangling to get the pan to clear and out. Removed the two bolts from Passenger side motor mount and lifted about as far as it cared to lift. Things bottomed out before hitting the MAP sensor.

I was trial fitting the old pan late in the afternoon and to my surprise it really didn't want to clear things and my fear was that I would scrape off the gasket goo making my approach. So before I was about to adjourn I decided to try the new pan, it fit without dispute. Before it changed it's mind I put gasket pookie on and cinched it down. I put in 5qts and will probably add 1/2 more as original is suppose to be 6.5 qts, less the 1 liter less capacity of this pan. Any excess seems to work it's way into the catch can.

Next track day is a bit out into next year so I won't know if I did any good or not.

Also rolled some new con rod bearings in, they didn't look bad and measured within tolerance so in my case one season fared pretty well at the rpm's we run. Maybe a every other off season item. Which also leads me to believe that I'm not getting g slosh as bad as I though I might.

[Heywood-Yablowme]

Interesting experiment!   

  I believe the Ecotecs do not suffer from oil starvation even with the stock oil pan.If they did,I am pretty sure my engine would be  TOAST by now,as I A/X it a shitload with HUGE sticky tires and road race with the same wide stickies...so the G force is there. 

  My motor has never sounded and run so healthy,and oil changes show no problems. I don't even have an Accusump equipped one either..    Must be my magic oil additive...  

[positron]

I get a intermittent P0520 Engine Oil Press sensor circuit. I changed sensor so next step is to log oil pressure vs g's on Traqmate, but that'll take some doing. This looked like a good idea anyway.

[Terry Kennedy]

[quote="Positron"]
I get a intermittent P0520 Engine Oil Press sensor circuit. I changed sensor so next step is to log oil pressure vs g's on Traqmate, but that'll take some doing. This looked like a good idea anyway.
[/quote]

That sensor is just for the "idiot light" in the Cobalt. I don't know if they even validate the pressure threshold on it. I log both oil pressure and temperature in the Microdash, and collecting that data (with whatever tools you want) is generally a good idea if you're running the car on the track. The ECU doesn't collect that info, so you have to use independent sensors.

I've always sent my used oil off for analysis at each oil change, and I've never seen metals come back in the report, except slightly elevated levels on the first break-in oil change.

[Lane]

Cool, thanks for the photos & info, Positron!    Did you have to swap the oil pickup as well?

[DarthChicken]

I don't think you guys realize how many track days Positron does 

What was it this year Positron.... 30+?  He's got over 5000 miles of TRACK miles on his car, in the last 3 years.

[positron]

Not quite 30.. must have been an off year.. 57 this car to date.

Lane - No, the pickup is hard mounted to pan and comes with it, so pan off, new pan on.

Terry - I was concerned that if I was going below the predetermined pressure limit.. the idiot didn't see it or maybe it went below a threshold number of counts and would set a code.. I looked into the PLX modules to add oil pressure function and then cross reference/overlay to Traqmate place on track so I can see what turn and how much.

[Lane]

What's the GM part number on this replacement pan?

[positron]

12601240 I got my used so this is an untested number. I'm thinking about ordering a spare so when these parts become unobtainum.

I backed into it using a LE5 '06 solstice but you can drop that part number into search box at GMpartsdirect. No gasket, only goo.

My goo of choice is Permatex "the right stuff" (that's really it's name..) I'm not a fan of blue smurf poo.