The classic Ford Lotus twin-chamber engine was designed and built in the early 1960s, this highly successful engine propelled an infinite variety of cars to victory in many different motorsport categories around the world.
The leading high-performance engine tuners of the time quickly modified the dual overhead camshaft engine to power and improve the performance of this free-revving four-cylinder engine.
High-performance race engines are generally built with no expense spared; typically, a dry sump lubrication system is installed to increase reliability and longevity and promote long-lasting performance.
The dual chamber engine was used to power various cars, namely the Lotus Elan, Lotus Cortina, Ford Escort to name a few, these high performance cars were quickly chosen by enthusiasts for everyday energetic driving as well as for weekend motorsports. events. But, unfortunately, the phenomenon known as dual cam oil surge quickly reared its ugly head when enthusiasts raced on racetracks in normal road cars.
A severe oil surge can destroy an engine in seconds when the oil pump is out of oil.
Among the many books published dealing with the rebuilding and restoration of the classic Lotus élan and the dual cam engine, only a few books mention the oil surge problem associated with the dual cam engine, and they also do not describe what the owner of Lotus can do to solve the oil surge problem. Perhaps the Lotus Twin Cam owner is expected to accept the oil surge problem as normal.
But that’s a difficult thing to do when considering the consequences of severe engine bearing damage that can cause oil build-up. If you want to compete with your moose or participate in sprint events at the club level, it would be a good move to do something about increasing oil.
For just a few dollars worth of sheet metal, careful fabrication work and careful installation, the oil surge problem can be solved once and for all, the sump baffle modification job is not difficult to do, and if you have the mechanical skills and ability to do the job yourself; the manufacturing cost will be extremely low.
A new “Instruction Manual” provides detailed instructions on all aspects of sump baffle fabrication; It is a combination of various crankcase baffle oil control methods and ideas that has been expanded and refined in detail and instructs the domestic dual cam engine mechanic on how to build a professional anti-surge oil crankcase baffle. With a little bit of us, you can build a highly efficient and inexpensive baffled oil pan / pan for the Ford-Lotus Twin Cam engine.
This unique sump baffle design can also be applied to many other brands of inline four and six cylinder engines.
Commercially made baffled oil pans are available for the twin cam, in addition to many other engines, but the average enthusiast may not want to spend; $ 600- $ 800 USD or more to solve the problem, and why would you when you spend less than $ 20.00 to buy a sheet of metal, which you can then make in a brilliant sump baffle design that is pretty straightforward to integrate into the standard? twin cam drip tray.
The deflector design illustrated in the manual has been manufactured and constructed from ideas obtained through discussions with motorsport competitors. This is great information for serious Ford Lotus twin cam enthusiasts who will continue to maintain, rebuild, and operate this all-time classic twin cam engine.