Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 An interesting Sump-bolt and Brake-Bleeding-valve

Working on the S&S lube-oil system I found on the internet a very interesting product, which I immediately installed on my S&S engine and on the Bevel-box.

A Sump bolt.
When I bought the M3W in December 2022 I was informed NOT to remove the sump-bolt, but instead taking away the oil-inlet tube to remove the old oil.
Doing so I found that there will always stay a more than reasonable amount of oil in the sump which is not refreshed with new oil.
The expression of a “Dry-sump” is a confusing thing.
There will never be a ‘Dry’ sump. The outlet is quit high and the oil is pressed out only at upon that level.
The oil under it will be contaminated with all the wear and tear of the engine.
Some metal particles will not at all be pumped out and stay in the sump. Don’t forget there is a magnet too on the existing sump-bolt, which keeps metal-parts at that place.
The particles which are pressed out will later - in the long term - slightly ruin the engine lube-oil-pump, but that is a story which I will discuss with you soon.
I was also afraid to find a worn out female-thread, as several M3W owners wrote in the Talk-Morgan Forum.
Luckily that was not. Although the fix was not that wonderful anymore. Or has never been.

The ‘Stahlbus’-Sump-bolt is a very clever design and besides that also very beautiful to look at.
I love good design and this one should get an award.
It is a fix for ever.
So with some Teflon tape or Teflon thread you fix it and you will never take the bolt/or insert away.
Emptying the sump is with a simple device you insert on the installed bolt. This device is directly connected with a plastic tube.
Great point of this design is that this insert-devise is for every different bolt ( -thread ) still the same, so when you lose one, you always can use another insert you have for another car.

You can stop emptying the sump when you want and you will never have dirty hands or gloves anymore.
When ready, there is a nicely designed cap with thread, which you can fasten hand tight. There is an O-ring so the cap cannot turn loose or leak oil.
In total - with the cap - the length is 5 mm longer than the underside of the frame. That is in my case no problem because the first thing I installed last year was a stone-protection cover under the engine. That stone protection has saved me already many many times.

I use the same device also for the Bevel-box.
I am working on a Bevel-box project to find an easy and rather cheap solution to solve most of the problems with the Bevel box. But that is a later story too.
Since I found that the Bevel box has far too less oil, I increased it a year ago from 300 cl to around 850 cl. Don’t worry for the oil-seals, there is no extra pressure. And any oil seal can have an overpressure of 0.5 Bar.
For my BB-project I want to check regularly the level of that oil and this ‘Stahlbus’-sump-bolt device is an easy solution to create a simple looking glass to check the level.

Back to the engine.
The information about the sump bolt thread was for me rather confusing so the first time I bought the wrong one.
- In the S&S manual is written
5. Plug, magnetic, SH, 1/2-20, transmission crankcase drain plugs with o-ring................50-8335
- On the parts list of Zodiac with S&S they tell you it is
Crankcase oil drain plug with o-ring, magnetic, socket head, 1/2-20 50-8335

But actually I found it was on my M3W S&S-engine a M14 x 1.5
That’s far away from ½-20. And the one I bought did absolutely not fit.
But maybe someone changed it on my engine. That’s of course possible.





https://www.stahlbus.com/products/en/oil-drain-valve/

https://www.stahlbus.com/products/en/bleeding-system/index.php


Brake bleeding valve.
Something else when talking about clever and beautiful design.
The same ‘Stahlbus’ – I regret I do not own it 😉 – also sells another very clever and again beautiful designed device.
A brake-bleeder.
We all know the problems of bleeding the brakes.
Somebody has to pump – using the brake-pedal or actually a brake-fluid vacuum pump - and another person has to turn every time - when not pressing - the bleeding valve to close it else it sucks everything back.
You never get the perfect result.
‘Stahlbus’ made a simple design – the best designs are always simple – with a spring and a tiny ball.
The ball closes any time there is no pressure on the system either by the pedal movement or the handpump.
So you just pump and you close the bleeding device when there are no air bulbs anymore and you are ready.
Again they designed the perfect cap for it – in a lot of colours - and not the normal rubber ones which get loose after a while.



I should become an 'influencer' 😉
They make a lot of money.

I have been using a Quick-Drain oil pan system for years on all my Moggies, over here Pegasus Auto Racing sell a good product. A tip if you do use these is always make sure the oil is warm before you drain, on the standard M3W oil tank you still need to siphon out the last remaining oil.

Herman - the reason you were advised not to remove the sump plug was because the standard sump plugs strip so easily....
That's the reason why your engine has an M14 x 1.5 plug.....the standard thread must have stripped.

5mm lower than the frame! - fine on your car with sump guard but for majority of cars out there that would be scary....

I drain the sump before every start up or else I put out copious amounts of bug fog