Reassurance sought (pieces of metal in sump cover \ oil leak)

[jhg1958]

What a good spot Swarfy. I have just had a poke about but the piece of alloy is firmly fastened to the crankcase.

If there was any other bits like this they could have been the source of the loose bit.

Not all a loss I found the securing screw and woodruff key had come out of the alternative pulley. This would have not helped the charging.

John

[Jules]

its never been mentioned before but when the engine has wet sumped like this, could the noise be the conrods hitting the oil and reverberating? has anybody ever had that happen when starting a wet sumped engine??
it would seem that the big end would certainly be dipping into the oil and splashing it around, so why not make a noise???

[chaterlea25]

Hi All,
Jules, I doubt that the oil / conrods would make a noise?
JHG,
The wet sumping is down to the ball valve in the crankcase or behind the pump if the engine cases were modified at the rebuild,
My SR has the ball behind the pump  and at one stage wet sumped due to a fibre of the gasket interfering with the ball seating.
I have found that the cork on the breather compresses and gets a little loose, this is enough to cause oil to be pumped out the breather. My test for this is to try rocking the breather back and forth against the drive peg
It should be tight enough to make it very difficult using fingers but easy using pliers.
If only a shade loose a gasket paper shim behind the cork will tighten it enough.


John