Accusump?

So- I have some planning to do before the car arrives in 4 months. I am scratching my head about a few different possibilities. I know that Dean is running the same LS376 with 480 hp that I am going with. However, he is a track car and he runs the Accusump ( I love his car!). If I plan on street/track, would you go with the Accusump, or would you just run an extra quart of oil on track? I would love to hear the pro's and cons to this. Obviously, a con is the expense, but I would rather spend a little now if it makes it "right". Thoughts?

Michael,

If you are going to the track on street tires you probably would be OK without. The higher cornering G's with sticky race tires might slosh the oil away from the pickup so an Accusump would be a good "protection". BTW, I have an unused Accusump with electronic solenoid I could sell below retail.

Doc Kaler

if I were tracking mine i'd use an accusump for piece of mind. I'd also address all the little nit-picky LS3 issues that could make it go b000m (e.g., some of the injectors, because of the fuel rail setup, can run a bit leaner than others). But I'm not tracking it so i didn't do any of that.

Starting a motor w/ no oil pressure has never seemed like a good idea. Any motor I love has an Accusump. Most aircraft use a pre-oiler of some sort, too.

Running an Accusump during hard corning is also good.

Why so much hate (or rather lack of love) for dry sump systems? Cost/complexity really that much to not make it worth it?

IMO, for a street cat the accusump is really not needed. For occasional track use
(read long, high G turns) it can save your engine. For racing, dry sump all the way!

Benji said:

Why so much hate (or rather lack of love) for dry sump systems? Cost/complexity really that much to not make it worth it?

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I was tickled pink to get rid of my dry sump system - why - more to mount, more lines to run, more headache, more everything.

I run an Accusump on any of my track cars that don't have dry sumps. I've seen oil pressure drop after a long 7600 rpm straight as I hit the brakes hard. Don't care to see the red light while braking. Its cheap, its easy, and its always good at start up. Maybe I'm biased from my air cooled cars, but like a little reassurance.

Something I run on my Ford is an external oil pump for a low profile wet sump pan. Its kind of hybrid keeping cost in check while increasing the dependability of oil delivery. I'm hoping the LSx engine have improved their oil drive, but I've know too many sbc's being lost to oil drive shaft failure.

The reason I have not gone with a dry sump is simply due to expense (The difference between the LS3 and LS7). Fran said that running with an extra quart of oil will do the trick for tracking. I would love the LS7 with the dry sump, but I am going to save that one for the LMP car to come. I think I will cover my bases as DOC has a new Accusump with EPC that I have already made a deal for. Maybe overkill, but pretty cheap insurance for now.

I have blown up two cars on offramps on the street with enough oil and no accusump. I think the SLC can pull plenty of g's and can starve if right. I have a street SLC and have an accusump. For like $300-400 total cost it is worth it. I just use a standard lever and leave it on all the time and only turn it off to check oil level. That is how some of the race cars teams that use them do it to keep it simple and saves money.


Personally I would love to see the same exact engine with an accusump or nothing and then a dry sump and see if it actually makes more hp. I am thinking it would not make more overall. Sure, the windage would be better, but the parastaic loss from the pump has to be huge with running 3-5 pumps at once with higher volumes and pressure. I just do not see the engine making up that much power, but I could be wrong. Then the added weight of the entire system with all the lines, tanks and tons of oil I just do not see it. By the time you are done you would have spent like 4-5K or more with the dry sump system, oil pan, an fittings, hoses and other fab items. I have built and ran a drysump on an engine and it worked good, good pressure all the time and no issues. I also now run an accusump and no issues on engines again but at 1/10th the cost and time. Same end goal, save engine and have fun.


Also, the accusmp is really a bit of an oil cooler. As you are off throttle the pressure is lower so it pumps oil into the engine, when revs come up pressure comes up and oil into the accusump. So it is really moving oil most of the time and it does get hot so it can disapate heat. Now where you have it located that may or may not be a good thing, but you can wrap it or flow air over it to solve that a bit. I will also be running and oil cooler so not really an issue for me, just more food for thought.

Having personally witnessed a few bone stock c6 z06, and ls3 corvettes eject rods (with street tires, and R rated tires), or spin bearings at hpde events the past 7 years, I'm pretty gun shy running the SCL on any track with out some type of oiling mod.

That said, I was fine with my ls2 based c6 on many track days including running the long course at Pocono (long high G turn). However, I was on street tires, and ran an extra quart of oil.

Nothing is a guarantee prevention of future engine failure, but I would still run something.

Accusump, well designed RR oil pan, or go dry sump...

I have a 6 stage Dailey setup in my SLC and just sold the Accusump setup I originally planned to use. It definitely cost more than I hoped it would, but it's not that complex to do. The SLC design lends itself well to a ton of dry sump plumbing options.

I opted for the Accusump and custom specific RR oil pan as all my 'bright' ideas had already consumed most of the available engine compartment space. Plain and simply did not have the room for a DS. The car will see occasional track day work and as I have way too much money in the engine I'd rather not blow it up trying to save 500 bucks. :knife:

Troymx576 said:

I also now run an accusump and no issues on engines again but at 1/10th the cost and time. Same end goal, save engine and have fun.

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A dry sump set-up also enables you to mount the engine lower. Not exactly a budget option though.

The LS dry sump vs the factory wet sump are essentially the same height....they have a pretty shallow oil pan even as a wet sump engine.

The transaxle bellhousing and the angle of the axles then becomes the sticking point if you try to lower the engine...

gt40fran said:

The LS dry sump vs the factory wet sump are essentially the same height....they have a pretty shallow oil pan even as a wet sump engine.

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That is true for the stock LS c6 pieces, but the aftermarket has some low profile options. The Aviaid billet pan is 3-4 inches shallower than a stock c6 wet sump pan. The Dailey integrated pan is shallow too. I had to mod the windage tray studs (main studs) for the pan to fit.

I don't know what you would gain going through the fab work to drop the engine in a street/strip car though.