[andrewo]

Not that I have time or inclination to install one of these, but has anyone else seen the thing on ebay? (item #2439897361). I am just curious as to whether its purported benefits have any grounding in sound engineering. I have never heard of one before.

Andrew

 

[Travis]

Yes, the idea is based on sound engineering and they are a relatively common item with hot rods and racers...

The biggest question is if their design will cause any leaks. I exchanged e-mails with him a couple days ago and I could see it going either way. He did claim to have owned an Opel up until recently and had to sell it to make room for his business. This design hasn't been tested on a running Opel motor BTW.

So, who's going to be the guinnea pig?

-Travis

 

[Jim Branham]

I used a crank scraper on a chevy s/b 327, it did not leak. As long as the scraper doesn't extend past the oil pan gasket it should seal.They are pretty easy to make and most you buy will need trimming for a perfect fit to your specific crank. Mine attached using the bolts for the oil pan. They say it's an easy way to gain a few ponies. Oh yeah, make sure you mount it on the correct side of the crank, it works better !

 

[Kevin Johnson]

Hi,

Quite a number of people have bought the Opel scrapers in the meantime. I believe one of them is pictured on the website opening page (rally car). The Opel design is the more classic style of scraper. If there is a lot of interest but still worries about leaks I could probably borrow an engine and design one that hangs off the caps.

Many oem engines come with scrapers (and have in the past).

Dyno results on the 993cc Metro engine show a 3% hp gain despite the engine already having a full windage tray. A Honda racing team related that they picked up between 1.5% and 3% depending on rpm with the D16 scraper (that engine has a massive girdle structure that many people thought would inhibit windage loss).

Yes, I did own a 73 GT (and a 68 Kadett LS). Bought a lot of parts from Gil too when he was still in Canoga Park. Wish I could have kept them. I have even less room now (swimming in engines for patterns).

Kind regards,

Kevin Johnson
Ishihara-Johnson Crank Scrapers

Yes, the idea is based on sound engineering and they are a relatively common item with hot rods and racers...

The biggest question is if their design will cause any leaks. I exchanged e-mails with him a couple days ago and I could see it going either way. He did claim to have owned an Opel up until recently and had to sell it to make room for his business. This design hasn't been tested on a running Opel motor BTW.

So, who's going to be the guinnea pig?

-Travis

 

[Gary]

Kevin - You are welcome to add info and purchase info on your scrapers to our "Parts Review" section. They will get more exposure there and people will have a direct link to purchase.

 

[Dan]

I put one on earlier this summer. I don't have any leaks, but I made sure to put a small bead of silicon on the front and rear rubber seals incase it caused a poor seal.

You really need to install it with the engine out and upside down. There were several places that I took a grinder to to make a little more clearance and filed a couple of bolt holes to make them line up better. I then epoxyed the scraper in place so I wouldn't have to worry about it shifting when I installed the pan. I used a little epoxy on the other side and silicone to hopefully keep it in place the next time I pull the pan.

As far as a gain in HP, it is hard to say... I changed a few other things when I installed it, but it does rev more freely.

 

[RallyBob]

I'll vouch for the merit of a crank scraper, they do work as advertised. I cannot take advantage of this commercially available one, as I tend to profile my crankshafts and often run aftermarket rods, so mine need to be hand-made (I weld them to the inside of the oil pan).

I see that one is offered for the 1.5/1.7/1.9/2.0 engines, and I believe another for the OEM 2.4's. Has one been designed for a 2.2 litre CIH engine?

 

[Kevin Johnson]

I'll vouch for the merit of a crank scraper, they do work as advertised. I cannot take advantage of this commercially available one, as I tend to profile my crankshafts and often run aftermarket rods, so mine need to be hand-made (I weld them to the inside of the oil pan).

I see that one is offered for the 1.5/1.7/1.9/2.0 engines, and I believe another for the OEM 2.4's. Has one been designed for a 2.2 litre CIH engine?

Hi Bob,

We do custom mods for the scrapers at no extra charge (like for knife-edged cranks and rods etc.).

If there are some Florida members that have an engine out I would be happy to do a pattern for whatever engine and they would receive a free one.

Is the 2.2 CIH engine found in any domestic cars? I can keep my eyes open when my wife, Samantha, and I roam the yards. I think about the GT every time I see a Chevette.

I just got off the computer after working on the Ford SHO pattern for a few hours. That is a nice little V6.

Kevin

 

[RallyBob]

Hi Bob,

We do custom mods for the scrapers at no extra charge (like for knife-edged cranks and rods etc.).

If there are some Florida members that have an engine out I would be happy to do a pattern for whatever engine and they would receive a free one.

Is the 2.2 CIH engine found in any domestic cars?

Short of sending a completed engine to you, making a modified scraper fit an oddball shortblock is difficult. I normally make the scraper part of the oil pan, and in fact usually make two of them, one low down to remove the majority of the oil, and another tighter-fitting scraper higher up the side of the pan to remove the residual oil. As you said, there would have to be modifications for aftermarket rods, and profiled counterweights, but also for increases in stroke caused by offset-grinding. Just as easy for the engine builder to do the scraper fitting while the oil pan is being fabricated.

The 2.2 CIH, like the 2.4 CIH, was never sold in domestic Opels. They come from overseas, usually through Opel GT Source.

 

[jeff denton]

I've been a firm believer in crank scrapers (and any other form of windage control) for a long time! Speedway GT uses two of them, just like Bob describes above. As my pan is totally home made the first one welds into the pan center and rises vertically. The second fits the crank/rod caps/rod bolts much closer and is between the pan and block. I used it to plug the oil pump pickup passage also, and the pickup bolts lock it into place before installing the pan itself.
Since discovering a product called Right Stuff (it's like silicone only better, trust me) I have no use for pan gaskets. They can leak. I hate leaks, especially on my race cars!
Here's the only photo I can presently locate of the pan project. The scraper is in place, hard to see but the excess (not trimmed yet) is sticking out in front. It is aluminum sheet, a Montana State Highway Department Property 55 mph speed limit sign, bullet holes and all.
I can use this in the compact class because it is home made, therefore gets around the rule which says "no aftermarket motorsports high performance parts allowed". Had I bought one it would be technically illegal...
Yeah. Get the scraper, especially if you are into high rpm and horsepower.
I bet it could even reduce emissions, any thoughts on that?
Remind me sometime to tell you how bad I hate Opel's way of draining head oil out and dumping it onto the crankshaft, and how mine does not do that, for an example of how important I think windage control is!

 

[ddoyle]

ok jeff, would you tell us how you drain the oil back to the pan?

 

[jeff denton]

Funny you should ask! My first attempt was to poke a copper tube down the drain hole then bend it around the crank/rods so the oil ends up in the pan, not on the crank. This was not easy, and wore out even MY patience. The result was to try my first plan which is worrisomely highly externally visible. It works like this: where the oil enters the drain at the back of the head there is a cover with three bolts. This cover now has a hole in it as low as possible with a 90 degree #10 JIC fitting welded in, it points left and down. The original drain hole has 1/2" copper tube jammed way into it and it sticks up about half an inch so that if oil puddles up back there it still COULD drain the original way. (This tube and the puddle it causes is how Mr. Legere oils the rear cam bearing, this can't work in the g-forces we endure in a constant HARD LEFT turn, and actually cause worse problems in oil control upstairs.) Anyway, this 90 degree JIC fitting then hooks up to a -10 stainless/teflon braided hose which sneaks down to the left side of the home made oilpan where it enters via a 45 degree JIC fitting. Now to describe the method used to test whether or not this works (it does) would make me first give up the details of how I oil the cam bearings and lifter galley, which I am afraid is quite bizarre and would take a while. (We don't use the tiny oil passage between the front of the block and the head...)

 

[RallyBob]

(This tube and the puddle it causes is how Mr. Legere oils the rear cam bearing, this can't work in the g-forces we endure in a constant HARD LEFT turn, and actually cause worse problems in oil control upstairs.)

Actually the cam bearings are fine, the cam lobes however tend to wear badly on Opel cams, especially at higher rpms and springs pressures. Never had a problem with the 'left-turn only' syndrome, even after running 4 cars at three circle tracks over about 8 years. Still, I'm interested in how your system works on the track, you can always make improvements over the factory oiling system for sure. Let us know!

Bob

 

[jeff denton]

Sorry, Bob, I guess I didn't mean it "can't work" because you know it does! I should have worded it more like "there's gotta be a better way to drain the oil and feed the cam to begin with". In studying the oiling system and reading your posts it just seemed to be impossible to supply enough oil to the lifter galley through that dinky little feed passage. In carefully tearing down my (now) three 1.9s, I notice that the front lifters show no wear but this worsens steadily all the way back to the rear lifter faces being absolutely SHOT. In all three engines!
So to make a short story long I drilled out the plugs above the cam bearings, tapped the holes to 1/8" pipe. Then got four 1/8 npt x 1/4 tube compression 90 degree elbows. Into the 1/8 npt end I soldered some 3/16 or 1/8 inch (I don't remember which) steel tubes about 2" long, they almost reach the cam journal when the fitting is screwed in. Now from the compression fitting end of said 90 degree fittings run some 1/4" steel lines very carefully (painstakingly, believe me) run to that center hole in the head that happens to be just above that square shaped cover coming out of the left side center of the head. (What's that for, anyway?) All four tubes come together right at that plate and braze together inside a 3/8 pipe fitting which then pokes through the cover, sealed with good old "right stuff" and O-rings. I call this tubing gizmo the "oil header" because it looks like a miniature shortie V8 exhaust header. It all easily comes in and out of the head at will. Anyway it all then externally ends up being a 3/8 tee, one branch is hosed to the main oil galley tap at the lower right side of block where there is also a tee fitting. I used tees so we could hook the oil pressure gauge to different areas during testing, wanting to ensure I wasn't bleeding off too much oil from the crankshaft! And now that we're using a "big"Honda Accordian radiator w/ trans oil cooler, I just might run the cam feed oil thru it first... Anyway, that's how I oil my head. Seems to work, haven't blown anything up YET but sure gulped a lot of oil out the valve cover vent the first time out. Yup, the stock valve cover did NOT work in a hard left turn. But that's a whole nuther story...

 

[Gary]

Ishihara-Johnson Crank Scrapers is now offering a 10% discount to OpelGT.com members. See the product review section for more details:

http://opelgt.com/rp/showproduct.php?product=36

 

[spdkilz02]

i was wondering if anyone has actually got this crank scraper from Ishihara-Johnson? and if so how did it work for you and did u have any problems at all with it...im thinking about maybe buying one to put on my 2.0 when i build it...seems like a cheap thing to add to gain a little extra horse...

 

[jeff denton]

Do it! Good oil control is key when trying to get the ultimate horsepower, especially from a small engine.
Mine are home-made, to be able to buy one would save a lot of time.
I can't imagine how one could cause problems, as long as you make sure it's clearanced properly. Seal it with Right Stuff.
Also look at my posts about how I drain the head, there's no use trying to improve oil control and windage if you're purposely dumping a bunch of oil on the crank from above.
It's just one more little thing that can be done to improve performance...

 

[soybean (R.I.P.)]

Hopefully, I should know by Mar 06 as I am going to get one after the first of the year. I found what I believe to be a competent machine shop today and they don't mind working on a "new" project as they're slow now. I spent about 2 hrs talking to them, going through what I thought neded to be done, and they suggested some things I hadn't thought about. So, I guess I'll be the guinea pig, although Dan in post nos. 6 said he had already done it.
Dan, if you read this, now that it has been almost a year, what is your take on this subject? Thanks, Jarrell

 

[yellaopelgt]

Can we get a definate price for one of these? It says at the website that they "start" at 49.95. I have my motor apart right now so this would be the time to do it if I opted so.
Thanks!
Joe

 

[yellaopelgt]

Sorry, my bad it is 49.95 . minus the 10% and it would be roughly 45.00 plus shipping .I need to learn how to read!!
Joe