Using an Accusump

A Cobra owning friend of mine uses a Canton 2qt accusump that he installed after he realized he was getting low oil pressure readings when the car was tracked due to heat etc. thinning the oil thus reducing oil pressure. He does some racing with his BB Ford powered Cobra and the Canton holds oil under pressure and will slowly release the oil whenever the engine oil pressure is low as often happens in racing.

I've never used one myself though I thought about installing one on the Cobra but I have an 8qt deep sump Cobra oil pan with two windage trays and my oil pressure never drops real low even when the car is run hard..

I have one. What do you want to know?

When your engine was wet-sumped, Stan, did you use it with or instead of a deep sump? I'm thinking of not deep sumping the engine and just going with a 3 quart Accusump. Do you pre-lube before starting? I'm guessing you're using the electric valve kit for control, as the manual valve or cable kit would be awkward, and with the electric pressure control idling for any length of time would fill the enigine?

If it's "turned on", the Accusump will discharge at idle regardless of which valve you use. I think dumping 5.6 quarts into an engine that only holds 2.6 every time you stop in traffic will at best wind up coating the engine bay in oil, your car will be shrouded in a nice cloud of blue smoke, or at absolute worst it risks engine damage from crank and pistons foaming the oil and starving the pump/bearings.

 

The question to ask is how many quarts can you overfill the engine and not cause problems? That would be the size of Accusump to use. I'd probably use a 1 quart unit instead of 3.

 

 

These are things I have to know. I'll be calling them to find out at what pressure the regular valve will activate at.

 

There is someone else on here that uses an Accusump and no deep sump. IIrc, Gene Berg was the one (of all people) who suggested (or recommended?) it on his lowered Speedster. Where are you? I have questions, dammit!

Well... it's not quite like that, Justin.

 

The electric set-up is pretty cool. Oil can flow into the accusump any time the pressure in the oiling system exceeds the pressure in the vessle. There's a solenoid valve which also acts as a (one way) check-valve. When the solenoid is not powered, the oil can flow into the accusump, but not back out.

 

The solenoid is not always on. The system has a has a Hobbs pressure switch. Canton sells them in a couple of different ranges. The switch closes (makes contact) when the pressure falls below a certain value (about 20 psi, if that's what you choose), and opens (breaks contact) when the pressure rises. If 20 psi seems too high, they sell Hobbs switches in a lot of different ranges.

 

So, the idea is that if there is a loss of pressure for any reason, the switch will close, and the accusump will discharge into the oil galley. It's a fantastic idea, and works pretty well.

 

I had mine when I had a conventional sump, and it never overwhelmed the system, because as soon as the switch starts to see pressure it closes the solenoid. the only time it would be possible to really fill up the crankcase with oil would be if you were prelubing, and the engine wouldn't catch. It would be possible to discharge the entire thing into the sump under those conditions.

 

I wouldn't use it instead of an extended sump. I used mine as a safety and a pre-lube.

 

The weak link is the Hobbs switches. If you get them in a range that opens and closes at low pressures, the pressures the switch sees at cold start-up can rupture the diaphram, and make the switch stop working. I ruined my second switch a few year back, and just jumped it. I just use the set-up as a pre-lube now, switching the toggle on before cranking to allow the pressure to come up, then shutting it off once the engine starts. It's using half the functionality of the set-up, but since I've always got 5 or more quarts of oil in my dry-sump tank, it's serving it's main purpose for me.

 

I like 'em. I don;t know why they aren't more popular, except that most folks don't understand the value of them until it's too late. 

Here's a link to the installation manual: http://www.accusump.com/accusump.pdf/instructions.pdf

 

and a picture of the wiring and piping:

 

Yes one would have to supply their own pressure switch, not any that Canton sells for the Accusump to have it work safely in a VW engine. A VW engine's normal oil pressure at hot idle is in the single digits. The stock VW oil pressure light comes on at 2-4 PSI and even the owners manual will tell you it can drop that low with the light flickering at idle after a long hard run. If you were to use any of the switches Canton sells (20 psi, 35 psi, 55 psi), the valve would be open at idle, hence my original comment that it will flood the engine with oil.

 

Now if your engine actually has idle oil pressure higher than the switch rating, it'll work as you describe and you only risk flooding during a no-start.

Correct.

I am a bit late in seeing this thread.

 

Gene Berg told me I could use an Accusump instead of a deep sump.

 

I added a switch to the solenoid so I can hold the oil in the Accusump if I want to turn the ignition switch on for some reason without starting the engine.

 

Unfortunately, I sometimes have trouble remembering what is the off position and on position of the switch.

 

When I first drove  my new 2110 engine the switch was in the off position, disabling the Accusump.

 

The pressure would drop to near 0 when I accelerated.

 

With the Accusump turned on the pressure would dip a little but then come back up.

 

I added a CB thinline sump. Previously I was concerned about how far a sump would hang down but the thinline doesn't hang below my A1 exhaust.

 

My Accusump is the 1 qt. size.

Mike, rig it up so up is on, like a light switch on the wall.

Thanks for your suggestion.

 

But, it is a little rocker switch mounted right on the solenoid housing.