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Last year I took my '47 Custom Super Clipper 7 passenger tourer on its first road trip since completing its cosmetic restoration -- Colorado Springs to Denver and hopefully back to Colorado Springs.

Made it to Denver, fine.
Took my parents to lunch.
On the way back the car died and couldn't be restarted.

Fortunately I had invested in roadside assistance which promptly picked-up the 20+ foot behemoth. I had "Big Blue" transported to Mark Clayton's in Castle Rock, which is conveniently located between Denver and Colorado Springs. Once there it was determined the original wiring harness was shot, and two cylinders had no compression -- hence an engine rebuild was in order.

Now, the question. When the engine was pulled and pan dropped, the pan revealed a previously-cut hole in a bottom wall (See photo 5). Why?

Picture 1 - Safe arrival in Denver
Pictures 2-3 - Loading for a tow
Picture 4 On the way to Mark Clayton's
Picture 5 The engine pan with the hole in it.

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The baffled sections in the pan at each end were to prevent accelerating or braking inertia from sloshing a large volume of oil to either end of the pan where the crank could hit or pick it up. IIRC, weren't the drain holes back into the sump either in the baffle's vertical part bottom edge or maybe the flat section but was a relatively small opening so it didn't defeat the purpose. Perhaps the previous mechanic or owner had a pooling problem and felt a larger hole was needed in the rear.

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Yes, Howard's explanation is correct. To affect the slosh behavior and improve the suction flow of the oil pump by the help of enlarged or narrowed holes, additional baffle plates and even mazes is typically encountered in the car tuning scene.


Opel - self-made baffle plate

By way of illustration, imagine the permanent horizontal shift of a hill climb or an IndyCar race.





sources
pic #1: www.senator-monza.de
pic #2: www.auto-motor-und-sport.de

One other possibility for the large opening. Does the drain plug setup look to be original? If not, perhaps the original was damaged -- either stripped or twisted loose like drain plug bungs on gas tanks frequently are and they cut a large hole for access and repair.

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Good one Guscha. That mighty 356 (with two dead cylinders) does burn a lot of refined Texas crude!

Te enlarged hole is probably due to excessive crank endplay. It was nicking the baffle whenever the clutch was pushed in. Or maybe the baffle was improperly jigged at factory and rod was hitting.

Just for comparison, here is a photo of my unaltered oil pan.

(o[]o)

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John, thanks for sharing. Is there (in the ground of the red marked baffle plate) a hole or a lateral slot like the yellow marked one?

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