Oil Dipstick (updated)
As you may remember I had to move the oil dip stick filler tube outside my inlet plenum to accommodate a smoother flow of air into the engine trying to cool #3 cylinding. I found a neat idea on the web for makiung a flexible filler tube (cutting the filler tube and using a piece of hose to join the pieces) and a dipstick made from a piece of vinyl coated cable and a custom machined cap. So I made one.
The problem is you cant see the oil level (especially if it is new clear oil).. I used some ferrals on the cable (top) to indicate oil level. Problem is the ferrals got stuck in the tube and again was hard to read. So I made a second cable (bottom) with a tube swagged onto the cable. The idea was to try and mimic the orginal level rod as much as possible to check the oil level.
When I took the oil pan off (to fix some leaks) I found the flexible cable to be really loose and floppy in the oil pan area. There is no way to get an accurate reading of the oil with this type of system. Humm…???
The second attempt cable is in the top picture and the updated cable/rod is on the bottom. Basically I took the cable idea for the flexibility and a rigid tube for readability to make bendable tube/cable level rod …. The secret to it is a spring near the cap which holds the ridge tubes in compression on the flexible cable.
This tends to keep the level rod perfectly straight off the plane and locks as straight as possible when mounted in the plane.
here you can see the three pieces of tubes bending on the cable. This allows the level rod to negotiate the bend of the filler tube.
When released it is perfectly straight. When checking the cable/rod mounted in the the plane, I found it mimics the original solid dipstick in the oil pan area so now I’ll get accurate reading of the oil level. Only thing left to do is calibrate it when I get the oil pan on.
Engine, LongEZ Upgrade | Nick | 13 September 2011 |
