[killerbmotorsport]

So the Rugedized Oil Pickup has been out for a little while now and I thought I should take some time to explain why I went with this particular design, why the cost is what it is, and hopefully answer any other questions out there.

Before I get into the details I'd like to thanks everyone who has been involved with the threads on this subject, on this forum as well as others. Without these exchanges and discussions, this product would have likely never been developed.

Let’s start with the OEM pickups. I've been studying this thing for quite some time now. I won't claim to know everything there is to know about it, but what I can tell you is this… All of the parts of the pickup are made from carbon steel. The collars (that protrude into the block) are a close tolerance piece with a snug fit into the block. The flanges are stamped, holes first then profile (notice the elongated holes), with a machined o-ring groove. The tubing is seam welded and pinch bent. The can halves are formed and the screen is places between the halves and the lip is roller around the can securing the screen and the two halves to each other. The bracket is punched and formed. The braze material melts at ~800°f and was likely applied with an electrical resistance process. The braze material is softer than the base metals.




The Subaru factory pickups are made in huge batches, by the thousands most likely and the economies of scale brings the price to a reasonable level. A problem within a batch can possibly affect different trim levels within models as well as across models. This is well documented in Impreza forums (All years WRX & STi) and Legacy (specifically the GT) forums. I have never seen a broken pickup at the pickup’s can or anywhere else on the tube except for near the flange. A few have said they knew some one that had one break at the can, but I have not seen any pictures or documentation to back up those claims. I've asked in several forums. I've got LOTS of pictures of pickups broken at the top near the flange and have included some in this thread. The braze joint is not where failure occurs. The tube is what fails, typically 1/8” to ½” from the braze joint. When I replaced mine you could see (with a strong eye loop) where the side of the tube was just starting to form hairline surface defects. At my last count 46 members had suffered the fate of a broken oil pickup.


From a Legacy GT











There have been concerns about the hole opening in the end of the pickup (can side). This only applies to STi and Legacy GT models, 02-05 WRX models are excluded because there is no shroud on the bottom of their can. There have been concerns that this hole opening is a restriction. It is not. The tubing and collar are smaller than the open area of the hole on the bottom of the can. The most restrictive point in the lubrication system is the oil pump outlet. There may also be internal passages that are even smaller, but I have not been able to measure them.

Some have questioned why I didn’t use a thick tube to go all the way down to the can. My thought behind not going all the way down was to minimize, as much as possible, addition weight out far away from the attachment points. The tube/can brazing area is not subject to the forces the tube is at the flange. At the flange the tube vibrates and the flange is fixed onto the block which concentrates stresses near that junction. If the thick tube went all the way down it would place significantly more stress (because of the massive increase in weight) on that flange and bolts because you would have more mass farther away from where the flange is fixed in place. That pickup is like tuning fork, it's going to vibrate. The more weight on the end of that tuning fork the more stress will be placed on the flange/bolts when exposed to vibrations. On the can/tube braze joint they both move together. The factory materials are very thin, .035". If the tube went all the way to the can, the end of the tube at the can would need to have a profile to match the profile of the can (exactly like the factory unit), and welding heat would be concentrated there (because of that shape) and possibly embrittle the can, which would be less than ideal and more challenging to weld. The cost of a shorter tube is less. The tubing cost is by the inch, so using more than you need is only adding extra cost.

Why didn’t I fabricate an entire new pickup? I did think about making a whole unit from scratch, but the cost and development time would be substantially more and the pricing would be MUCH more than what I'm doing now. The shape, dimensions and orientation of all the pieces of that pickup are quite critical in how the pickup passes through 2 baffles, follows the profile of the pan and the critical placement of the can in the pan (and the bracket follows a different but similar path too). I couldn't justify making a whole new one because there is really nothing wrong with the function of the OEM one EXCEPT that it breaks. By using the OEM ones I drastically reduce the chances of one of the many parts being made wrong, less chance of welding/fixturing mistakes or fitment issues.




Why does it cost so much? Quite often in the end it all comes down to how much does something cost and what are the benefits of the purchase. Obviously an oil pickup failure can cost a lot of money (see pictures below), but why does this seemingly simple pickup modification cost so much? Here's the breakdown of processes for the improved units:

-Factory OEM unit cost + shipping costs
-Custom Tube costs + shipping
The tubing is crossed from a metric size (of course) and it's not a very common size so it's not cheap and because the tube size is not very common the mandrel to bend it (didn't want to do pinch bend as they are weaker) is custom. I chose this tubing size because I wanted a close fit on the factory tubing to assist in locating for the welder. With a tight fit the tubes are all aligned. If the custom tube were larger then when the assembly is welded there is a chance the alignment could be off, increasing the odds of the can being off. Since there is not much room in the oil pan for error I opted for the snug fit on the metric tube. I'd much rather spend a few extra bucks making something correct and problem free vs. a product with poor fitment or flaws. Both sides are cut after bending, which is not the manufacturing preference for tube cutting, and one side of the tube has a custom profile to spread the welding heat and spread vibration stresses. All this adds up to quite and expensive little piece of tube. Pricing was quoted through several vendors (in the USA only) for competitive pricing.

-Labor/materials to remove a section of tube from the OEM piece
-Labor/materials to Heat and remove braze from flange end
-Labor to fixture each piece
-Labor/materials to weld
-Labor/materials for finish and grinding
-Labor/materials for packaging & shipping

What you don't see here is what I've invested in engineering costs, the several prototypes I've made, and the costs for the welding fixtures.

Wow, this is really bad!




See the following links to read reviews on this product.

Reinforced oil pickup - review and install notes - Subaru Legacy Forums

http://www.iwsti.com/forums/2-5-lite...up-review.html

[SoflaSTI]

what would labor be like to install one of these??? seems like its a lot.

[Got2Boostit2]

KB,

Has any vibration/harmonic testing been performed on your pick-up? Any thoughts as to that is part of the cause for the failures of the stock piece?

BTW, very informative write-up thanks for taking the time to prepare and post.

[Millie]

Thanks for the write-up and I look foward to replacing mine.

Question: If the OEM pick-up's fail there is a warrenty, for the most part. If your pick-up happens to fail, will you cover the damages?

[killerbmotorsport]

No problem with the write up guys... I enjoyed doing it.

SoFlaSTi the instructions are posted on post 34 in this thread...

http://www.iwsti.com/forums/vendor-g...oup-buy-3.html


Got2Boostit2,

I've never done lab testing on my unit in regards to vibration. Just to get the frequencies and amplitudes that the pickup is exposed to (in all driving scenarios) would be VERY expensive. I could vibrate the pickup and collact data on how it reacts, but without knowing if that's the same as what it would be exposed to on the car, it would be an invalid test.

I should add this to my writeup, but it's not the vibration alone that's causing these pickups to fail. Initially the area on the tube near the flange is chemically attacked by the braze flux. That is what creates surface defects in the steel. I used to think this was solely on the tube's weld seam, but I've seen a couple of failures that I'm not 100% certain that was the case.

jutes85,

the OEM one isn't always covered under warranty. Only if the dealer feels they should cover you. There are many posts on this. You are less likely not to be covered if you have aftermarket parts on your engine too. Of course you'll only be covered if you're still within the warranty period too.

If my pickup fails I'd be very impressed. I've been studying this part for some time now and have designed a few different versions, this one I think is the best. I am a mechanical engineer by trade too if that helps (hopefully it doesn't make you feel worse). If my part does fail I'd need to perform a failure analysis on it to verify it was a design, material or fabrication fault. Obviously making parts that cause engines to blow is pretty much like writing a failed business model, but if it did happen I'd want to work with the customer towards some kind of resolution.

[tom@kartboy]

nice work guys. Have you though of using Silicone Bronze for the filler rod? Thats what we use to use for the doubler plates on the top fuel headers i built back in the day. It is strong but still has some "flex" for vibration.

Tom

[killerbmotorsport]

Thanks for the kind words. I'm not certain the Silicone Bronze would be anymore of an advantage with this particular part. I can see how it would be on a top fuel header. If memory serves me correctly, Silicone Bronze handles rapid temperature extremes and shock (impact) really well. Regardless, I will compare some data just for fun. Thanks again!

Chris

[tom@kartboy]

Originally Posted by killerbmotorsport

Thanks for the kind words. I'm not certain the Silicone Bronze would be anymore of an advantage with this particular part. I can see how it would be on a top fuel header. If memory serves me correctly, Silicone Bronze handles rapid temperature extremes and shock (impact) really well. Regardless, I will compare some data just for fun. Thanks again!

Chris

Might be fun to try a few test coupons out in the shop. i'm finding i'm using it more and more these days for parts that need a little flex. keep up the good work
T

[Tgui]

Originally Posted by killerbmotorsport

No problem with the write up guys... I enjoyed doing it.

SoFlaSTi the instructions are posted on post 34 in this thread...

http://www.iwsti.com/forums/vendor-g...oup-buy-3.html


Got2Boostit2,

I've never done lab testing on my unit in regards to vibration. Just to get the frequencies and amplitudes that the pickup is exposed to (in all driving scenarios) would be VERY expensive. I could vibrate the pickup and collact data on how it reacts, but without knowing if that's the same as what it would be exposed to on the car, it would be an invalid test.

I should add this to my writeup, but it's not the vibration alone that's causing these pickups to fail. Initially the area on the tube near the flange is chemically attacked by the braze flux. That is what creates surface defects in the steel. I used to think this was solely on the tube's weld seam, but I've seen a couple of failures that I'm not 100% certain that was the case.

jutes85,

the OEM one isn't always covered under warranty. Only if the dealer feels they should cover you. There are many posts on this. You are less likely not to be covered if you have aftermarket parts on your engine too. Of course you'll only be covered if you're still within the warranty period too.

If my pickup fails I'd be very impressed. I've been studying this part for some time now and have designed a few different versions, this one I think is the best. I am a mechanical engineer by trade too if that helps (hopefully it doesn't make you feel worse). If my part does fail I'd need to perform a failure analysis on it to verify it was a design, material or fabrication fault. Obviously making parts that cause engines to blow is pretty much like writing a failed business model, but if it did happen I'd want to work with the customer towards some kind of resolution.

Any FEA performed?

[killerbmotorsport]

I didn't because the CAD package I use can't simulate the specific loading that would be seen in use, and no one knows what those forces really are. Any data obtained from a simulation would be from bogus input data and give bogus resluts. Just for fun I could simulate a side load to see where it fails.