High tech oil pumps to stop wet sumping.

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A while ago I asked if anyone had tried one of the high tech oil pumps made by SRM Eng. Then I realized they only make them for Triumph & BSA's. I send them a Email asking why & I got a response from Gary saying that there hasn't been enough demand for them to justify the cost of tooling etc etc.. I don't know if it would but they claim the tighter tolerances and better quality stops or really slows down wet sumping in other bikes. I wonder if it could stop it in a Commando? The guy I talked to says if they start getting inquiries they will start making them for Commandos. Has anyone here used any of there shtuff in Triumphs or Bzzzers?? They look cool & really well made. Check them out at srmclassicbikes.com
 
Hey there gtsun, I've been looking on the net for info about oil pumps, I'll check it out and send them an inquiry. thanks Cj
 
I think the SRM pump would be overkill (and I'm the king of Norton overkill!), send the timing cover to AMR in Tucson, AZ for the "ball-deal" and the wet sumping days are a memory.

Vince
 
Maybe I'm missing something. My bike wetsumps too. If it sits for a month or maybe a week of ten days, the oil in the oil tank is low.

My procedure is to just kick it over slowly with the key off; after a few kicks the tank is back to full or near full; key on, start her up.

Since my Commando is a '73 750, it has the breather on the back of the drive side case. When I kick her over, by the second kick, oil is forced up the breather and is spurting out the breather return. Heck, if I leave the dip stick cap off, the oil will spurt across, hit the far side of oil tank's filler neck, splash and make a mess.

If I haven't ridden her in a while, well, I want to prime the engine and the carbs anyway, so . . . . the fact of wet sumping doesn't really bother me.

Now, if this was a daily problem, if the leak down was faster, then it might bother me.

BTW, maybe I get the wetsumping because I'm running Wal-Mart synthetic 10-30; maybe it's too thin?
 
I'm interested ,... I run straight 50 over here in summer, and she still wetsumps within 2-3 days. I always check the oil level, and kick her over a few times, if she's been standing more than a couple of days. Am considering a non return valve...AC.
 
I actually bought an anti-drain valve but I'll never use it, blocking the oil-flow is SCARY! and adding something that might fail into the lubrication system just sticks in my throat (just imagine the "suck" of a failure!).
The AMR ball-deal is supposed to STOP oil getting by the pump when it's sitting still and that should solve the problem completely (my bikes regularly sit for several weeks at a stretch).

Unclviny
 
My procedure is to just kick it over slowly with the key off; after a few kicks the tank is back to full or near full; key on, start her up.

My procedure is to just start the motor and let the pump do its job. It's worked for me for 36 years.
 
maylar said:
My procedure is to just kick it over slowly with the key off; after a few kicks the tank is back to full or near full; key on, start her up.

My procedure is to just start the motor and let the pump do its job. It's worked for me for 36 years.

Well . . . . . . yeah, but am I missing something? Is there a risk of hydraulic lock? or some kind of damage if you just start her up? In other words, why the heck is everyone so excited about wet sumping?
 
xbacksideslider said:
maylar said:
My procedure is to just kick it over slowly with the key off; after a few kicks the tank is back to full or near full; key on, start her up.

My procedure is to just start the motor and let the pump do its job. It's worked for me for 36 years.

Well . . . . . . yeah, but am I missing something? Is there a risk of hydraulic lock? or some kind of damage if you just start her up? In other words, why the heck is everyone so excited about wet sumping?

Because when they wet sump bad enough you can't kick them through with enough speed to get them to start.
 
Only damage danger is not having enough oil left in tank to run long enough to suck oil back to tank. I've heard crank seals could be blow out but don't make
sense to me except maybe flooded Combat with oil over the low down breather.
Just peek in tank if in doubt and if an inch or so oil in there, start and run slow till sump empties in 30 sec or so.
 
AussieCombat said:
What's the BALL-DEAL ?..AC.

Its a spring loaded ball at the output of the pump. Completely failsafe, as opposed to those checkvalves that are inline with the pump input.
 
Because when they wet sump bad enough you can't kick them through with enough speed to get them to start.

A well sorted Norton should start with very little effort. Wet sumping be damned.
 
Well for my bike it's really only a issue if it sits for about two weeks like when I'm working on something or the weather is bad. Then if the level has gone down passed the mesh filter inside the tank there is a very real danger of not having any oil at the pump. That means it may not prime itself and return oil to the tank etc etc.. Also when mine sits that long oil weeps past the seal & into my primary case over filling it. Now that I'm know about it I don't let this happen but if a better oil pump would stop this alltogeather, I'de go for it.
 
So . . . . . the '72/'73 crank case breather located at the bottom of the crankcase, that uses the downstroke of the pistons to pump oil out of the crankcase, is, afterall, a better idea?

That is, if the breather is located at the top of the timing chest, then the only return for wet sumped oil is the scavenge side of the oil pump but if you have a '72/'73 750, then the breather also returns the oil.

In '72, maybe that's what Norton's engineers were thinking about . . . . . .

Seems like wet sumping is a second reason to install a CNW reed valve - certain oil in the tank to ensure oil pressure on start up of a wet sumped engine.
 
i've left Norton twin set up for over 9 moths at a time and with a good tickle and hot battery have gotten first kick starts in chiily conditions. That is normal anything less is merely common.
 
Norton oilpumps will still wetsump the engine even with the ball valve mod. The feeding oilpump is connected via two shafts to the return pump. If the shafts are a bit worn, the oil will simply drain from the feedpump to the returnpump and down from there into the crankcase... so the proper solution is to seal both pumps against each other.
 
So oil gets by there??!! I'm still wondering if the tighter tolerances of the SRM pump would stop the limp D... I mean wet sumping??.. Mr Comstock & all you guys that think in microns etc etc, what do you think?
 
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