A carbide die-grinder mounted...
A carbide die-grinder mounted in a cordless drill made quick work of the transmission case, and a utility knife was used to nip off a bit of the converter cover's plastic. Though the initial product photo shows only straight AN fittings, when they ran smack into the subframe, it was realized that 90-degree fittings were necessary. An earlier-style 90-degree filter mount was tried but only made matters worse.
Once the position of the remote...
Once the position of the remote adapter was determined, it was match-marked with a paint marker, the assembly was removed, and permanent alignment marks were scribed on the fitting and filter mount as shown. At this point, the adapter was tightened to the filter mount, rotated into the correct position, then bolted back to the block with the AN/NPT adapters installed.
A variety of mounting methods...
A variety of mounting methods were considered before this setup was devised. This is a pull handle from a commercial push-style, panic door-bar system. To prevent any oil aeration in the CM remote filter due to vibration through the sheetmetal, a pair of isolators from a '72 Firebird radiator support were used for the upper mounting points of the bracket. A pair of hood bumpers were set to matching depth and attached to the lower point of the bracket. The Pontiac parts bin also coughed up a pair of rubber gaskets from Second-Gen Firebird spoiler attaching nuts. They will be sandwiched between the fender washers for added damping at the filter clamp.
A pre-oiler is nothing new to the internal-combustion engine industry. Patents for such devices date back to the '30s. However, those early units were complex affairs with springs, valves, chambers, and pumps. They never caught on within the automotive industry, most likely due to their expense, reliability, and component-longevity issues.
Canton's Accusump began life as John W. "Jack" Evans' engine pre-oiler and lubricant reservoir (1970, Patent No. 4,094,293) and was developed and sold through his company, Meca Development. Evans later focused his talents on the familiar aftermarket cooling systems that bear his name, and in 1983, Canton Racing Products bought the rights to Evans' pre-oiler.
In the ensuing years, Canton has changed various aspects of the Accusump, refining the internal valving and beefing up the reservoir construction with billet, machined screw-in end caps. Billed as the original oil accumulator, the internal surface of the Accusump's heavy-wall aluminum tube is roller burnished and Teflon hard-coated with a sliding double-O-ring piston that separates the tube into air and oil chambers.
The Accusump pre-oils the engine before you ever turn the key, ensuring that everything is oiled and minimizing friction between contact surfaces. Additionally, when equipped with an electric pressure switch of predetermined range, the Accusump automatically triggers the electric valve to deliver oil to the engine while it's running if a component of the system fails (the pump, pump driveshaft, oil filter, and so on) or the oil pickup is uncovered during braking, cornering, or acceleration. It gives the driver enough time to shut down the engine before more serious damage occurs or the system provides oil to the engine until reaching normal pressure. Accusump systems that use only the electric valve for simple pre-oiling or a manual valve that requires the operator to activate the system for pre-oiling or surge protection are also available.
Due to the tight confines around the oil filter, we used a remote oil filter in this particular Second-Gen Formula application. Over the years, we've seen plenty of remote oil-filter mounting systems in street and race cars. We've also seen quite a few failures of such systems, whether from poor oil delivery and the ensuing internal engine carnage it causes or outright failure of the lines on the track. Most of the former is due to the systems being cobbled together using hardware-store NPT pipe fittings with non-radiused angle fittings, while the latter often stem from poor layout and inferior materials. For example, using hose clamps, straight nipple fittings, kinked hoses, hoses not long enough to compensate for engine movement, and so on.
When assembling the system in our Formula, the number of 90-degree fittings and position of the filter were initially cause for concern. However, after reviewing the proposed system, Canton's tech department assured us there was nothing to worry about as long as we used the proper components. Radiused fittings like those provided by Canton minimize pressure loss whether 45-, 90-, or even 180-degree. If you go the cheap route and build such a system using off-the-shelf plumbing hardware, you're asking for internal damage caused by oil starvation due to pressure losses at the restrictive 90-degree NPT fittings.