Rebuilding Dad's Panoz; LS1 swap

[NZGTRA17]

Originally Posted by Cobra4B

Oil cooler lines assembled and installed.


Remote filter block cleaned up and re-plumbed with oil temp, oil pressure, and a 2nd oil pressure sending unit to activate a large red 20 psi light. Plumbing is setup to use the lower oil cooler port as the inlet. Strongly considered the CV Products filter block, but the plumbing just works better with this one and it's provided sufficient oil pressure over the years. Don't mind the cheap Fram filter... break-in only.


Customized the seat rails that came with the "new-to-us" Kirkeys out of a C4 Corvette to work in the Panoz. Seat is fit exactly where Dad needs it... no more sitting on a foam pad because the seat is too low from sharing the car with me.

Brian, the fitting that you have with the pressure sensor makes me nervous. It appears to be extended out quite a way meaning that vibration may cause it to fracture through the threads in at the filter adaptor end. May be just the photo view but worth thinking about. Seen to many engines trashed due to fracturing oil fittings.

Kel.

[Cobra4B]

You're not the first to express concern over it. It's very sturdy, no flex, but I'll explore other options.

EDIT - I'm going to put the smaller sensor (for the low pressure light) directly into the filter housing. I'll move the big sending unit for the gauge to the upper rear of the block in the factory location. I was going to plug it and keep it in reserve for an accusump in the future, but I can re-work it when/if an accusump is added... see orange plug.

[Panoz60]

I have to agree with Brian, purely in the interest of being helpful, not critical.

While I am new to Panoz; I have been racing since I was 15, so the better part of 32 years. The one thing I can say conclusively is that if you think to yourself "That should be good enough", it's probably not. I could go on and on about the little, seemingly inconsequential things that seemed "good enough" in the shop, that failed horribly on the track. I think I now suffer from over-engineering things as a result. It often costs in weight, but at least my failures have declined substantially.

So if you keep that set-up, I would recommend supporting it with a fabricated bracket of some type.

[Cobra4B]

After ruining a track weekend or two over something stupid I'm overly anal on prep. Case in point I sourced a button headed cap bolt for the passenger side upper radiator support connection because the coolant hose will touch it. Less of a chance for any chafing damage. I fully agree that "good enough" generally isn't.

As I mentioned above I'm going to put the big sending unit for the gauge on the top rear of the engine in the OEM sending unit location. That will alleviate the t-design with both coming off the filter block.

[NZGTRA17]

Originally Posted by Cobra4B

After ruining a track weekend or two over something stupid I'm overly anal on prep. Case in point I sourced a button headed cap bolt for the passenger side upper radiator support connection because the coolant hose will touch it. Less of a chance for any chafing damage. I fully agree that "good enough" generally isn't.

As I mentioned above I'm going to put the big sending unit for the gauge on the top rear of the engine in the OEM sending unit location. That will alleviate the t-design with both coming off the filter block.

Nice compromise Brian.

On the accusump, if you are going to do it, do it early (i.e. now). I know you know LS engines very well but its cheap insurance for what....$300? I have seen mine actuate every lap for 50 laps on one corner on one track we have run on. That was on DOT's. If it wasnt fitted, there goes $5,000 of short block, probably within 3 - 5 laps!!

Kel.

[Panoz60]

Odd thing about Accusumps, its better to have one and not need it, than need one and not have it. That said, I am not a big fan of them, and here's why. yes, they do supply pressure when the pick-up gets uncovered under heavy g-loading, but as soon as the engine starts pumping oil again it not only has to supply the engine, but refill the Accusump. I never realized how bad my Mustang was until I was watching in-car video. My Accusump had an electronic solenoid which I hooked a light to so I could monitor when it was open/on. At Sebring, it would flash 3 times a lap. I then noticed the OP Gauge, It would drop to 30 PSI, the Accusump light would come on, and then the OP would struggle to get back to 60 (normal for that engine, hot) What I ended up doing to cure the whole problem was get a killer oil pan with trap doors. I also blocked the pressure regulator in the pump and hooked up an external pressure regulator. http://www.jegs.com/i/Peterson+Fluid...-0161/10002/-1 The premise was that the oil didn't cavitate and aerate in the pump, but rather in the external regulator's return line. After those changes, The light never came on again. Just FYI

[Cobra4B]

FWIW I don't think we'll need an Accusump for the tracks we typically run; never needed one in my Z06. The Kevko pan we're using here is a nice piece with trap doors etc.

[Panoz60]

Originally Posted by Cobra4B

FWIW I don't think we'll need an Accusump for the tracks we typically run; never needed one in my Z06. The Kevko pan we're using here is a nice piece with trap doors etc.

Agreed. Sharp, quick turns will not cause the oil to climb the sides of the pan. Sustained high G turns will. I always reference Sebring because I have run countless laps there due to it's proximity to me. My Accusump would operate in turns #1, #14, and #17. Once I put a proper oiling system on the car, I ran two more events with the Accusump on board. It never opened again so I ditched it for weight savings.

[Cobra4B]

Made new straps for the new 22 gal cell. Bolted them to the cell instead of notching like the last one. Going to add some side brackets too. Need to trim the ends and paint. Put new weatherstrip under the cell but decided to not use any on the straps after looking at countless pictures of different installations.





Redid the oil pressure sending units. The one that activates the low pressure warning light is on the filter block and the main one for the gauge is now in the OEM location.

[Cobra4B]

Trimmed the dash panel, added gauge holder, test fit gauges... Much better.

[Cobra4B]

Fresh bedliner, low oil pressure light, and moved the wideband.

[Cobra4B]

Fuel cell straps needed paint... might as well go with red.

[NewToPanozGTS]

Originally Posted by Cobra4B

Not seeing any... would like to though.

Bryan,
Here's another try at posting pix of my CV Products remote filter mount during mock up. If this works I'll post some more pix next week as plumbing is now complete. Keep up the good work.
Bill.

http://s1283.beta.photobucket.com/us...tml?sort=3&o=1

[Cobra4B]

Working fine. To post the pictures into a forum thread you take the picture link with the image tags around it and paste it into the post. It's the picture URL with the [img] and [ /img] around it.

[Don O.]

Bryan, I would build some sort of removable metal shield around your oil filter. A rock thrown up in the right place can easily puncture the oil filter.

Ask me how I know!

Don