How do I change my standard Zetec sump?

[pgh]

How do I go about changing the standard sump on my Zetec engine for a third party sump?

I read the recent magazine article which was excellent, however, I still have a few questions:

What do I use as a sealing gasket? Is it simply a case of salvaging the existing gasket?

Do I need to modify the dipstick in any way?

Is there a particular order in which the sump bolts should be torqued up?

Thanks,

Paul

[MAT1800]

I am certainly not an expert, and I have no mechanical training and very little experience, however below is a note of my experiences.....    

Please don't read this as gospel, or as patronising, I state what may be obvious to the many more experienced members, simply because it wasn't and isn't for me, and perhaps other newbies....

I had, ready to use, one container of new oil, My brand New Wesfield Sump, which seems to be a very nice bit of kit, and includes a new pickup pipe, and My newest and so far perhaps best purchase..... A sleeping/camping mat from Asda for about £3, which can be cut in half to make 2 excellent laydown mats...

First I got the car up on 4 axel stands and made sure it was stable. I then disconnected the Positive wire to the battery.

Next I put my sump drainer under the car and began to drain the oil out of the sump, just as if I was doing an oil change. I didn't run the engine first to warm the oil and make it flow quicker, like I would have normally done for an oil change as I knew I'd soon be underneath it and warm sumps and oil inches from my face didn't seem like a good idea.  

Whilst leaving the oil to drain.  I then disconnected all the electrical connections to the starter motor. Next I removed the filter to my throttle bodies to make access to the top starter motor bolt easier. I undid the three bolts that hold the starter in place, using a ring spanner on the end of an allen key to get the neccesary leverage to loosen them, removed the starter motor and put it to one side.

I decided at this point I had removed enough oil form the sump and put the drain plug back in to stop it dripping on my head whilst I continued.  

The Sump is held in place with a row of 10mm bolts on either side, these were loosened very easily. I put my jack under the main body of the sump at this point to stop it falling, although I was able to then remove all the fixing bolts without the sump moving. So I lowered the jack a few mill below the sump and tapped it from each side with a rubber mallet. This was enough for it to fall away gently and rest on the jack. I intend on using the rubber gasket again on the new sump, so as I lowered the jack and sump carefully with one hand I carefully teased the gasket away from the enigne block with my third hand.    taking care not to stretch or break it.The sump wasn't too heavy and perhaps the jack was overkill, better safe than sorry though. The old sump was placed on one side,

At this point I thought the messy bit was done.... I was wrong!  I undid the two small bolts holding on the pickup pipe using an allen key and pulled it off the engine, only to have a flood of oil pour out all over the garage floor and my collection of sockets and bolts etc underneath.. Arrgggh! Anyhow, I cleaned this up and carefully removed the green gasket, again to reuse later.

I offered up the new sump,  It didn't quite fit at the front, there was a few millimeters gap between the top of the sump and the engiine block, I incorrectly thought it was the engine mount on the passenger side causing the problems...

So I Gaffer taped a couple of sheets of newspaper across the open sump, (to keep the shavings out) and filled down the rather strange raised section on the side of the sump near this mount. so it was smooth with the rest of the sump.

And trial fitted again, it still didn't fit. I then remembered the instructions metioned that the 'windage tray' may need trimming, I guess that the ali plate fixed to the bottom of the enigne was the windage tray, and a few trial fits later, I found that upon closely checking the new sump I could see that it was indeed catching on the inside of the very front of the sump.

So I decided to cut about 4mm off the front of the windgae tray straight accross the front, at first I tried using a hacksaw... I soon realised this was going to be time consuming and tricky... so I got my dremel out.    (and my safety specs)

A fine cutting disk on the dremmel made short work of that, I then got some wet and dry paper on it to ensure it was free of burs, and gave the whole area, top and bottom a good wipe to remove any bits of ali.

The sump then fitted perfectly, so I held it up and marked a line across the front face of the bell housing where I intended to cut it. ie.  almost level with the bottom of the sump.

This is where the fun really started, trying to hacksaw off the bottom of the bellhousing should be easy... it's only soft Ali, right?    

Not for me it wasn't, as you're cutting it virtually level with the bottom of the chassis you soon end up with every nuckle bleeding and bruised. Lying under the car, with only a few inches between your face and the bottom of the chassis doesn't help either. It became a war, me against the machine. It took me over two hours just to cut this soft bit of Ali off the bellhousing.      

Perhaps my hacksaw is crap, perhpas I'm just a muppet, I dunno, but this was a real challenge for me....

Eventually I won!    And it looks a lot better, the chassis hoop now being the lowest part under there.

The next part was a lot simpler, I cleaned up the old rubber gasket with a rag, then smeared it all over with some new engine oil and pressed it into the new sump, making sure to press down the square sections that seem to act as locators.

I fixed the new pickup pipe in place using the old green gasket and the two allen head bolts, I had no Torque setting for this so I just did it tightish...  

Then I held the sump in place, making sure not to catch the gasket, and used my jack again to hold it against the enigne. I put in the bolts along both sides and just loosely nipped them with a rachet and removed the jack, so I could lie directly below it and reach all the bolts at once.

I'd checked the Haynes manual previously and it stated that the bolts securing the sump should be torque tightened to 10Nm. However I then dicovered that my Torque Wrench only started at 30Nm so I wasn't going to be able to do this. The haynes manual also stated that the bolts should be tightened in the usual sequence: Starting in the middle and then working across the sump in a diagonal cross sequence moving from the centre outwards. So I did this and tightened them up to what I hope is about 10Nm, I tired to guestimate how tight they were when I removed them, and realised that 10Nm wasn't very high, so I was carefull not to over tighten them. I repeated the sequence a couple of times just to ensure all bolts were tight.

Then I poured in the Oil. The instructions say that the sump has a capacity of 5L, perhpas I should have read this first as I realised the oil I had was only 4.5L, I hoped that there would be a fair amount of oil around the enigne and that this would be sufficient for now, and I'll add an extra half a litre tommorow.

The dipstick didn't quite fit in now, so a couple of seconds with a dremmel and I removed about 10-15mm from the end of it, smoothed it off with a file and wet and dry paper to give me a smooth rounded end, then pushed it back in.

I then re-fitted the starter motor, connected up the electrical connections, and re-attatched the positive connection to the battery. I re-fittted the throttle body air filter and then checked the oil level on the dip-stick. I'm going to cut a groove into it with a dremel to mark the new level, once I'm sure it's got the right amount of oil in it.

Next it waas the moment of truth, one final check for drips, then I started the enigne, if fired first time... of course!    

The Oil pressure was at just over 4 bar, which for a cold enigne I think is about right, and there were no leaks after about a minute of running.

So I stopped the engine, checked again for leaks, and lowered the car off the axel stands.

"Touch Wood" it seems to have been a success.  

Piccys Below.

(and as a rough guide, provided you know how to use a hacksaw, this should only take a novice like me about 4hrs in total to complete)

[KerryS]

Much the same as Mat though didn't do the bell housing at the time of fitting (did that last weekend - was easier than Mat seemed to have found it!.

With the sump installed, I put in 4 litres of oil and ran the engine keeping a careful eye on the oil pressure gauge and breathed a sigh of relief when it came up. With the car on level ground, I left it overnight and put in the last half litre of oil and left it for another few hours. When I withdrew the dipstick, the level was showing about 6mm above teh existing "full" line. So I take this to be the new full point.

With the Westfield cast sump, I did not need to alter the dipstick.

Kerry

[MAT1800]

Below are some Images to accompany the waffle I've now finished above. I hope this is of use to someone.

 

If there are any obvious mistakes I have made, I would appreciate being told, and would then also be able to amend this if it is decided it's worth keeping in the FAQ.        

Firstly, the reuslt of a 2 Hour battle with a hacksaw.... although I've already realised it was just me struggleing with this, as Kerry has pointed out most people shouldn't have this problem. I just wanted to include this photo, taken 24Hrs later!! Just to prove my dedication..      Or is it stupidity...    

Out with the old 'bucket' and in with a shiny new Westfield Sump, which looks 100 times better, and a very nice bit of kit... IMO of course.  

Here's the cause of the only problems I encountered.... the section of the sump I removed, as you can see the flywheel is still enclosed underneath.

And the section of the windage tray I removed, quickly and easily using my trusty Dremmel.    You can also see the location of the pickup pipe to the right.

Here's the new pick up pipe to the left and it's gasket... all featured on my fabulous new mats.    

And the new Westfiled Sump is finally supported under the engine, ready for fixing.  

And finally..     What I hope you'll agree is a very neat installation. As you can see with the bellhousing 'trimmed' the  Westfield Sump installed, the lowest point is now the chassis hoop.        

Please ignore the state of my garage... that's the next job on the list.           (oh and that's my lamba sensir in the foreground of the last picture, just incase you were wondering)

[pgh]

Thanks to Mat's excellent answer above I have now completed my sump swap.

I varied my technique slightly from Mat in that I removed the windage tray & snipped the appropriate amount off with tin snips:

I was also tipped off by KerryS that the original sump had some gasket sealant at four locations, I applied sealant in the same positions on the new sump, shown here for completeness:

So far so good, no leaks! Although, having put 4.5 litres of Magnatec 5w30 in, oil pressure is .5 bar higher than previously, 4.5 bar full/ 3 bar idle. I'm going to drain a jam jar's worth of oil out to see if this gets pressure back to previous levels. The extra pressure could be explained by the lack of any restrictions on the end of the new pickup pipe I suppose, however, I'm certainly not an expert.

Thanks to Mat and Kerry for their help.

Paul