Verus Engineering Oil Pan Pre-Testing Preview
Today, Verus Engineering shared a detailed walkthrough of their latest prototype high capacity oil pan for the FA24D, found in the second gen BRZ and GR86.
This is the next iteration of the pan that’s currently on my car. Verus is calling my pan version 2 and it added around 1 liter of additional capacity. This pan is version 3 and it pushes the total oil volume added over stock to 1.3 liters. Assuming testing goes well, this is the design that will go to market.
You can watch the video here:
Background
After testing a number of different baffles, we determined that the most promising way to address oil pressure drops in the FA24 was increasing the total oil volume, as we believe the pressure drops are due to insufficient oil return. This leaves oil stranded in the heads and timing cover and causes the oil pickup to suck in air.
I share test results from the version 2 oil pan in this video:
In general, we saw much improved results over stock, but still a little room for improvement. The version 3 pan attempts to address that.
Heat
One of the concerns we’ve heard with this design is whether the removal of the OEM heat shield on the headers and the proximity of the pan to the headers will cause issues with excess heat.
First, this is a reasonable concern to have. Eric mentions in the Verus video above that cooling is an easier problem to solve than oil pressure drops. But I can also share what I know from my testing thus far.
With the version 2 oil pan (with an air-to-oil cooler installed), I think oil temps are not much of a concern. I saw no noticeable difference in temps on street and track (measuring from the OEM oil temperature location, which is post-oil cooler).
In fact, I continue to block off my oil cooler when driving on the street because I want to raise my oil temps to normal levels.
And my oil analysis shows reasonable viscosity considering 4 track days and 1 skidpad day.
| Property | Tested Value | Should Be | Virgin Oil |
|---|---|---|---|
| Viscosity @ 100°C (cSt / mm2/s) | 11.3 | 11.1-14.8 | 13.4 |
| Flashpoint in (°F) | 405 | >385 | N/A |
| Fuel contamination (%) | <0.5 | <2.0 | 0.0 |
| Antifreeze contamination (%) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Water contamination (%) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
I will continue to share oil analysis results as I do more oil changes with this pan. We will also need to do the same testing with the new pan to make sure the results are similar.
One other thing to note (that wasn’t mentioned in the Verus video) is that the increased oil capacity also helps with controlling heat, as you have more thermal mass in the 1.3 L of additional oil to dampen the effects of increased heat exposure.
Even if oil temperatures are not a problem, I do still have some concern about elevated engine bay temps. I’m keeping an eye on this. Here’s how I'm thinking about it:
- It’s not proven to be an actual issue yet
- It can be addressed with aftermarket header heat shield (e.g. Heatshield Products Header Armor or ceramic coatings)
- Or can be addressed by adding a hood vent (e.g. Verus Hood Vent)
Aftermarket header support
Verus mentioned that they can still make slight modifications to the design if it allows them to clear aftermarket headers. The pan will be cast for mass production, so any design revisions need to occur before the tooling for casting is produced.
If anyone has 3D scans of their headers, can convince the manufacturer to send Verus a 3D scan, or is even willing to send Verus their headers, Verus is willing to try to accommodate more headers.
You can reach out to Verus at sales@verus-engineering.com.
Testing plan
We are planning to test this new pan in the coming weeks. My friend Tor will be testing this pan on his car, as he has a higher-grip setup than my car and the community has shown interest in seeing how the pan performs on cars with more grip/pace than my 86 Challenge Stock class setup allows. This unit has already been shipped and I am hoping to install it with Tor next weekend.
Verus is producing 10 of these pans, so there will be a handful of other drivers testing them and collecting data. I’ll be helping to sort through and present this data as well.
Very excited to see how this new pan performs and hopefully see it come to market!