3 generations of SuperVettes

[RiceEatingZR1]

I took this Picture during Bloomington Gold. I talked the guy that was "watching" the new Z06 into letting me pull my ZR1 and my friends 01 Z06 up and get a few pictures. Unfortunately it was a Hazy day so the picture didn't turn out as good as I had hoped.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v211/RiceEatingZR1/Bloomington%20Gold%202005/HPIM0568.jpg

[Jim Jones]

Great pic!! Is that Z06 Daytona Sunset Orange Metallic? It kinda looks that way.

Jim

[RiceEatingZR1]

Yes it was Daytona Sunset Orange. it was pretty cool. I got pictures of the dry slump as well and they were letting people sit in it, the seats seemed to have great support i wish I could have drove it.

[Jim Jones]

The wife and I had our pic taken in a "regular" DSOM at the Columbus Auto Show. I love that color.

Can you post a pic of the dry sump with an explanation. I have no clue what that is or what does.

Thanks!!

Jim

[RiceEatingZR1]

Here is a Picture

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v211/RiceEatingZR1/Bloomington%20Gold%202005/HPIM0446.jpg

and an article on how it works:

Most production cars have a wet sump oil system. The HowStuffWorks article on car engines shows you where the sump is -- it's the area below the crank shaft. In a wet sump, the oil that you put into the engine is stored beneath the crankshaft in the oil pan. This pan has to be large and deep enough to hold four to six quarts of oil -- think about two 3-liter bottles of soda and you can see that this storage area is pretty big.

In a wet sump, the oil pump sucks oil from the bottom of the oil pan through a tube, and then pumps it to the rest of the engine.

In a dry sump, extra oil is stored in a tank outside the engine rather than in the oil pan. There are at least two oil pumps in a dry sump -- one pulls oil from the sump and sends it to the tank, and the other takes oil from the tank and sends it to lubricate the engine. The minimum amount of oil possible remains in the engine.

Dry sump systems have several important advantages over wet sumps:

Because a dry sump does not need to have an oil pan big enough to hold the oil under the engine, the main mass of the engine can be placed lower in the vehicle. This helps lower the center of gravity and can also help aerodynamics (by allowing a lower hoodline).

The oil capacity of a dry sump can be as big as you want. The tank holding the oil can be placed anywhere on the vehicle.

In a wet sump, turning, braking and acceleration can cause the oil to pool on one side of the engine. This sloshing can dip the crankshaft into the oil as it turns or uncover the pump's pick-up tube.

Excess oil around the crankshaft in a wet sump can get on the shaft and cut horsepower. Some people claim improvements of as much as 15 horsepower by switching to a dry sump.
The disadvantage of the dry sump is the increased weight, complexity and cost from the extra pump and the tank -- but that's a small price to pay for such big benefits!

[rkreigh]

very cool stuff indeed. love the pics, the new z06 looks nice next to the zr1.

see you in carlise, we need a few more of these pics.

if we see 11.5s out of the new car, it will be pretty impressive indeed.

[Kevin]

I'll take the ones on the left

[Jim Jones]

Shaun, thanks for the explanation. In an odd coincidence, I just had someone ask me if the ZR-1 was a dry sump because it holds so much oil. I told them that I didn't think so because I actually had no idea. At least now I know.

Thanks again!!

Jim

[Kevin]

Nope the ZR-1 is a wet sump.

[RiceEatingZR1]

Yeah they are wet sump. I don't know for sure but I don't think any production car had a dry sump back when the ZR1's were being built. I could be wrong though.