DS Pump

Thanks again Walter for your comment.

Porsche and VW published a tech bulletin about notching both sides of the connecting rods in 914-4 engines as Brian mentioned. That’s in wet sump conditions! Is there enough oil in dry-sump set-up for i.g. the additional piston cooling? That’s what worries us too.

Originally Posted by Wally

... its just my opinion on an internet forum. For real info, ask a professional who's business is it to warrent his engines and backed up by hundreds of builds. I am just as a hobbyist.

We will, as a fact I already did. We will continue that conversation face to face on short notice. Anyway, we are also interested in the opinion of others, especially if they are hobbyists like you.

Originally Posted by Wally

We both know what the person who designed your engine does for a living and what his experience and skills are. Then ask yourself this: when the person designing this combo chose these exact parts, you can either trust his judgement or don't and alter parts of the combo. If you choose the latter option, thats fine also but the question of wanting to be sure gets a little academic then in my book

True. I know and you know that designing an engine like he did does not stop when start building. Designing goes on when building. If one of us is an hobbyist, I am. So I am very glad the help Brian gives me and I asked him to do the designing part. I am only paying and learning a lot these days.

Also, don’t forget the engine was designed for a beetle, not a heavy split bus. We both know the designer works a lot for customers related to race and cross. That’s his strength. My bus -when finished- would be happy on a race track I know for sure, but the chance the bus is going to see a race track is minor. It’s no wonder we look at the engine a little different then he did.

About being sure, you are right. There are no guarantees. Maybe I was not clear enough; I mend we want to be sure dry-sump is the best for my engine and my situation. That means we have to do some search and ask others at experiences. Like Brian mentioned he never build an engine with dry sump on it. For me that is a big advantage. Maybe weird to say so, but he is ‘clean’ in the way he is thinking and not going to let his course be influent by experiences in the past. (Experience are old solutions for new problems).

There will be a lot of opinions about DS is the best or not. For now –in my situation– I am not pretty sure it is, not even now after you typing “IMHO, DS is always best.” Sorry, I might be as stubborn as you sometimes can be. I appreciate you are sharing your honest opinion with us, but again it’s just not enough.

Originally Posted by Wally

Regardless, it will probably be an awesome engine anyways

And that’s what it is going to be! DS or not…

Cheers,
Luuk