I have been reading posts on this site for a good time now and I'm astounded by what I've been able to learn here.  It's now my turn to ask a question and I'd really appreciate any help that anyone has to offer.

I am designing an oilpan to be used in a very small racecar to be powered by a Suzuki GSX-R 600cc motorcycle engine.  Due to placement of the engine on the chassis and the desire to maintain the stock oiling system's volume, the external dimensions of the pan are set in stone.  This means that the vast majority of this project is the design of any sort of baffling/oil control system.  Dry sump is out of the question due to the relative complexity of the system, cost, and weight.  Crank scrapers and windage trays are virtually impossible to implement due to the geometry of the engine casings.

Is there any good literature out there about oil pan design?  From what I've been able to see, it seems to be somewhat of a "black science."  The racecar is capable of 1.4G of lateral acceleration, and this has occasionally caused problems with previous designs (not mine, thankfully gate valve).

I have designed oil pan, scrappers, windage trays, oil pick up strainer, etc. for high performance cars.

One thing that you really need is a 3D CAD and the 3D models for crankcase, oil pick up and moving components 3D locus. Once you have the 3D models, you will be able to simulate oil movement at say 1.4 g. This oil volume shape must be defined by the shape of the crankcase and the rough oil pan that you are designing. You will need to subtract the oil using the 3D models of oil pick up and the moving component locus. You will have to do this for all four directions to simulate braking, acceleration, right cornering and left cornering.

You will notice that the oil volume is not the same for all 4 lateral acceleration. All you need to do is to iterate the position of the oil pick up and to also iterate the oil pan shape. At the end you will arrive to the oil pan shape that looks similar to the aftermarket oil pans.

One thing that I can share with you is that, to design an oil pan is very easy but to get it optimized to all the functional and performance requirements require at least few weeks assuming you have a 3D CAD.

Anyway, give it a go and post more questions once you run into difficulties.

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