For those that are interested and can come up with this quarter's AERA Engine Professional Magazine, there is a very good article on dry sump oil systems in it. And, yes, they are traditional. They have beeen around since the 20's.
Interesting indeed. My researches into swapping a Subaru EJ flat-four into a Morris Minor suggest a need for dry-sump lubrication, due to bellhousing to rack-and-pinion clearance. I did come across a thread on another forum (I don't have the link handy) about a home-brew budget dry-sump system which uses the engine's stock oil pump as the pressure stage. It's basically about finding a way to connect the reservoir feed to the stock pick-up port and still be able physically to bolt the oil pan up, i.e. it's a detail-design problem. IIRC the thread was about some Japanese in-line four and featured two scavenge stages. I'm hoping the Subaru's compact, square crankcase would allow me to use only one, and save a bit that way. I also seem to remember some mention of making a scavenge pump by running proprietary gerotor oil pump internals in a made-up housing. The remaining problem is length, which is at a premium in a Minor's engine bay. The plan is to de-electronicize the engine, a**** other things by running a Ford CVH distributor off the back of the right-hand cam, as it's a fairly easy swap. The aircraft guys do it all the time for ignition redundancy. I don't think the back of the left-hand head has easy provision for a scavenge pump, however. I could use the front end of either cam, though, because that ugly plastic belt cover has to go.
The Jalopy Journal
