Update from my first couple of days running with the new oil pan. Cruising oil temps are down about 8 degrees under normal conditions vs the spacer setup I had before. Also, my initial fill was almost exactly 6 quarts (slightly under), given the extra drainage from having the pan off (keep in mind I have a cooler too, but with the fittings on top).

One question I didn't see answered in the instruction booklet: is there any gasket or O-ring on the new drain plug that needs replacing on oil changes?

If that's true about the 8F temperature difference, could be a very good thing! I'm going to be challenged to manage oil temps with a single core once my SC kit arrives, and 8F will be a big help

any track events coming up where you could tell us how it does with max temps?

Next time my car will be in track conditions will be MSR's "Red Meat and Race Fuel" next Thursday the 25th. I don't think any SCCA stuff is coming up until mid-late Sept.

Nope, just torque it to 25 pounds!

Mike

I didn't see any temperature drop that was apparent under track conditions. 1.5 engines were destroyed by poor oil pickup this weekend (both LSx engines) so I'm very happy I have this.

What with my Oil cooler, and rear diff cooler - I now need this oil pan, lol. I'll get back to you in Spring 2012 :)

1.5 engines? :icon14:

One was fatal, rod through the block, bits of piston scattered through the engine. The other was a spun rod bearing and appears to be repairable.

2.5 kids

I have seen temps drop since install. About 10 degree drop overall.

I apologize for the old thread revival here but after trying to contact AM Performance about this a couple times I'm posting here. Does anyone know if they sold out of these, still have them available or any other info? They look far superior to the GReddy option. Thanks.

The Greddy option isnt a relevant road racing product IMHO. I have one on my car, simply because it came with the turbo kit. There is not a single attribute of this pan that is going to prevent oil pickup starvation, etc. I think its main purpose was just to give oil returns for their turbo kit... other than that it serves no purpose.

The AM pans were a limited run and all parts were sold, and unfortunately AM closed up shop so there are no more to be had.

Maybe some enterprising person with a 5 axis CNC machine could purchase AM's plans and CNC program and build some more. Would save a lot of time versus re-engineering from scratch since theirs seemed to work pretty well.

^^ if anyone could get the CAD files from them, I have a CNC that could cut them out no problem. But from the perspective of a CAD designer myself, I would have a really hard time letting go of the design work.

I would tend to believe that if you could get ahold of the designer of that product, even if they have closed up shop... you could probably get them to make another batch if you put a deposit on the materials. I would figure they probably outsourced the CNC work to a machine shop, and it could be as simple as a phone call for them to get more made... so it would only be money in their pocket if you could get ahold of them.

I've been in touch with AM since the shop closure and everything is frozen at the moment. Still trying to get one myself.

I believe they were making them in-house, they had bought some nice fabrication and CNC stuff for their shop. I'm guessing "frozen" above means the blueprints are considered corporate assets and they're financially/legally frozen while some process unfolds?

If thats the case, I would be curious which CNC they purchased and how much they want for it! (currently in the market for a new or almost new one).

Not sure who to contact there, you might talk to Shamu (from these forums) if nothing else, he seems to know some of those guys. I really wouldn't even know what I'm looking at, but here's some pics of some of their machine shop equipment from a past AM Performance thread:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._7951139_n.jpg
http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._5479393_n.jpg
http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4463683_n.jpg

Not sure if they had CNC in-house, probably just did the CAD work and then sent it out.

Ya hard to say... in the photos shown above there is no CNC machine, but it may not have made it in the pictures or perhaps arrived after those photos. Decent CNCs start between 60-75grand, so I dont personally imagine a race team making that sort of purchase unless they planned to use it for manufacturing product to consistently retail as well. All the other stuff I see in the photos is absolutely essential to own and know how to operate for anyone building a true race car in house.

The pans were designed in house and sent to a machine shop for production. You might want to contact Doran Racing about buying the old pans as some of the race motors went there. Either way, a similar pan could be developed with more oil capacity without too much difficulty--if the designer is familiar with oil pan baffling and CAD.

They had one pan left. I tried to get, but it was sold. Dollar short, and a day late. :mad:

No they outsourced them to a machine shop. They didn't have any CNC machines. The organization is dissolved so suspect it's lost cause. I do have a contact who I can ask but suspect all drawings etc are gone.

They were next to machine shop that had several CNC machines. I have a friend who has 2 CNC machines. If someone could get cad drawings I might be able to get him to do limited run.

It's a really nice pan design, it's a shame to see it *not* being produced for those who want it.

^agree


First off, I appreciate all the responses guys. It sure seems like this would be high on a lot of people's list for road racing their Zs considering the possible effect on longterm engine life. That said, I cant exactly think of a time when a VQ37VHR died [naturally] from oil starvation -nod in travis' direction- .... does anyone have reliable evidence -such as through watching their oil pressure gauge- of oil starving in our engines?

And despite any of this I would still feel better having it than not. Shamu if you would be willing to try to contact your guy and find out about this thatd be awsome. I would almost bet I wouldn't be the only one who would still be interested in this design.

The machine shop next door might still have a copy of the files laying around, although you'd still need to deal with getting permission from whoever technically owns the CAD info (someone has to be the eventual beneficiary of whatever AMPerf formerly owned).

There's a little more to it than just running the CAD file, some parts are hand assembled such as the 4 one-way gates. Without the original plans or a piece to reverse engineer it would take some work.

Sorry to hear this part is no longer available. As I get ready for some winter mods, I was thinking about this as a first step.

The other main part that is needed.... And is actually the weaker part... Upgraded oil pump gears.
In the end the best overall solution was switching over to a dry sump system.

Do you have a source on a ready-to-go dry sump kit that fits the stock VQ37VHR? :)

Yes drop me a pm.
It's not cheap.

Knowing Nissan. It's grap your chest, and fall over dead when you see the price. :rolleyes:

Check with daily engineering for dry sump:

VQ-37

They make really nice stuff. Never used their Nissan products but I have installed their Viper parts and they were top notch.

That is THE one to use... and what we run.
;)

BJ, were you able to lower the engine any with the dry sump or are you forced to run stock engine and transmission mounts?

FYI, I have one of the AM oil pans left. If anyone is interested in picking it up please PM me.

Yeah it doesn't look cheap :). I'm really not at a point where I'd even consider it, just interesting to know about.

Guessing $5K+ just for pump and pan, still need pulley, tank, lines and fittings.

Here are a few photos of the AM pan, i'm going to be away from my PC this weekend so I apologize if I don't respond to questions quickly.

http://i.imgur.com/4VkAS.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/rmytl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7QJAs.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/hQDFa.jpg

got any larger photos? those are too small to see much :)