[Tuske427]

I took my car to the track last weekend. Speed Ventures @ Fontana. After getting my trailer (stored 2 hours away), prepping my car, my wife even made a crock pot with pulled pork bbq sandwiches, lugging everything to the track, paying extra $$ for a ride along instructor, I got out on the track and literally 1.5 laps into it my engine puked oil. What tipped me off was the huge smoke screen I made as I came around a corner- I felt like I was driving the car from Spy Hunter. I immediately pulled into the pits and oil was trailing/ dripping underneath. Oil was covered in the passenger side of the engine bay, cross member, steering linkage as well as underneath. Fortunately, I still had oil pressure. Today I took some time to look into it further, and have concluded the following:

- catch can assy wasn't set up right/ working effectively to relieve crankcase pressure
- oil blew out past the dipstick tube
- very high oil pressure coming from engine

my oil pressure when I'm on it was around 80psi and that's with thicker oil (Valvoline VR1 20w 50. it's what my engine builder said to use) Today I put some thinner oil in and my oil pressure goes even higher. it jumps up past 80 when accelerating moderately (estimating around 85). Also swapping the oil will help tell me if the oil I'm cleaning up is from last week (dirtier, darker color) or it'll be very clean oil if it's still spraying out today.

I replaced the o-ring on the dipstick tube and revised the catch can assy and it should be good. it's a closed system now (was open before). I'm also going to look into an electric vacuum pump for the engine- something I can switch on for track days and leave off for regular driving. I'm also going to call Melling- the manufacturer of my oil pump and see what they say. I did a bit of research and it turns out that the oil pump used in my engine can have the spring swapped out. Now it has the heavier spring in it and the lighter spring will reduce about 20 psi.

Attached is a pic of my car at the track. Fortunately, the folks who do photography there (Caliphotography) caught me on the first lap, or I'd have no pics at all, ha ha.

Hopefully my next track event will be more successful