Application is a RWD SR20DET w/ an SR16VE head. Titanium rodded engine with quasi-dry-film coated bearing surfaces on the rods.

Apart from dry-sumping the engine has anyone seen other alternatives to upgrading the oil system? I'm looking for a maximum ceiling RPM of around 10500, operable RPM won't exceed 9200 or so on the street.

So far I don't think the 16VE pump is going to fit the timing cover on my RWD block, and I'm not sure if I want to trust the stock pump with an additional 3000 RPM.

Any ideas/comments?

So far I'm just thinking of going to a dry-sump to avoid manually removing the sump via raised asphalt since the car is pretty low. With that I could afford to drop the motor a solid 25mm or so, but it is expensive at the same time.

It would be more cost effective for me to make a new baffled pan, an accusump, and a modified OEM pump.

how does an S15 oil pump compare to say, an S13?

i would love to know this too

why not just replace the entire front cover with one from a VE engine? It comes as a whole assembly when purchased from Nissan.

GregV at Mossy Performance can get you everything you need to upgrade the oil pump.

the only difference between the RWD and the FWD/AWD front covers are the 2 bolts in the very front of the cylinder head, at the timing chain. on the RWD head, the bolts are inside the timing case, and on the FWD/AWD heads (and also the VVL heads, if i remember correctly) these bolts are on the outside of the timing case. this is the only reason that you can't use a VVL pump on an S13 DET. well, that and the fact that the harmonic balancers are offset differently, but that's why JWT sells the pump with the proper spacer.

if you're using a FWD cylinder head on a RWD block, then you need to use a FWD front cover to accomidate those front 6mm bolts.

someone please correct me if i'm wrong, but i think that you're best bet is going to be using the N1 oil pump... JWT sells the kit complete with the pump spacer that you will need. the pickup points on the bottom of the pumps are the same for every SR pump ever produced, so you just need to figure out which is the proper sump tube for your application.

hope that helps.

obviously, the dry sump is the way to go, but you're talking about serious fabrication in order to make this all work. if anyone knows about "off-the-shelf" dry sump parts, please send me a PM with the details, because i'd be super interested in taking a look at them!!!

how does an S15 oil pump compare to say, an S13?

my guess is that, like all other things SR, Nissan most likely made improvements along the way as the silvia product line evolved. the s13 set the standard for oil pump needs. nissan designed it to those requirements. the s14 came along, ball bearing turbo, and any problems with the old pump design are now known... nissan revamps the design slightly. s15 comes along... blah blah blah.... point is, Nissan is notorious for revamping parts and then not telling anyone about it. i had a talk with Clarke Steppler a while back about this very topic. he told me that he stopped trying to keep count of how many different sr20 fwd oil pump part numbers were available from the start of SR20's to the end of them...... too many to count. the N1 pump seemed to be the best one to date, so that's all he was concerned about. sorry to make this so long and confussing. long story short, there is probably a step up in performance from the s13 to the s15 pump... will they interchange? i dunno. never personally tried to use the S15 pump on a earlier model SR20.

-n-

well im got a rwd block in my s13 with a fwd head that has full race prepping to it. im gonna run my motor to about 10000 as well. i wouldnt trust ANY stock pump to do the job i dont care if its an s15 or n1 pump. do the safe, reliable, and race proven external dry sump pump. if you have a lot of engine work done the last thing you need is to starve the motor of oil. the stock s13 oil pump can make 80 psi or a bit more at red line. thats great but you wont be at redline all the time. i have an english 3-stage dry sump pump that will make 60psi at 3500rpm and like 130psi at redline. its a lot of pressure but you need it. if you dont you can always adjust it very easily compared to a stock pump with which all you can do is shim it....with huge limitations.

spend themoney and get an external pump. ask some race shops around if they have any old pump that are in good shape they are will to sell. i got my pump from a local shop for 200 dollars....with an fittings and pulleys.

look around you can find a heck of a deal sometimes.

i am assuming that you have fabricated your own oil pan to use w/ this pump? what are you doing with the front cover? did you just remove the pump assembly and use the cover without it?

how are you driving the pump? obviously, the crank, yes? what kind of pulley are you using?

do you have any pics that we can see??

for what it's worth, the VZ-r guys are running stock pumps with their SR16VE's that turn 10K and they don't seem to have problems. i only know this becuase i have a friend that knows a couple of those guys personally... he's been to japan and seen the cars first hand. this is why i suggested using the N1 pump.

-n-

Thanks for the replies.

SRBYBRE, I'm a little aprehensive about running such high oil pressure with a turbocharger. Even with the GT-series restrictor overpressurization can blow out the oil seals, and having to consistantly referb my $1000 GT-series turbocharger is something I'm not quite looking forward to. I suppose I could gear the drive to adjust for this, but what viscosity oil were you using with your numbers? Do you recall average oil temperatures? Lastly is this engine turbocharged? Can you supply pictures of your dry-sump setup as well?

INKTDEVIL, hmm, this is the kind of info I was looking for, thanks. As for the tube, I can fabricate one to the same depth and locality as the OEM blacktop unit. I was already planning to modify the pick-up anyways.