Hello lathedog,

I just ran across your recent post on your S/C PTO gear oil "refill & dipstick tube" DIY......what an ingenious idea man!

Awesome!

I've got my S/C tore off my R53 right now (the car & S/C has 103k miles on it....just discovered both of my seals are toast.....will probably send it off to Stiegemeier for a rebuild, tomorrow) and would totally appreciate a list of where you got the parts for your DIY kit???

Where did you buy the brass fitting that screws into the PTO gear oil drain/refill port, specifically?

And, the copper tubing?

Lastly, after looking at your pictures and design (the "bend" you made over the water pump main shaft in the copper tubing) - couldn't you just make the tube a lot shorter and just have it stick straight up but low enough that it wouldn't touch the hood etc??

Just thought I might ask if you had any more thoughts on where to place the tubing (I totally dig how you installed it into the radiator housing) and with that placement is it still easy to fill it with oil (enough gravity to pull the oil down into the fill port?).

This thread needs to be seen by everyone on NAM and BIG THANKS needs to go out to LATHEDOG for designing this killer solution to this ongoing problem for all R53 owners!!!! GREAT JOB, LATHEDOG!

 

Thanks.
The tubing was 3/8 soft copper.The fitting is a 3/8 compression fitting 90 deg.
I really think 1/4 inch would work but I already had the tubing left over from another project. I guess I would stay with the 3/8 tube since it allows easy fill and dipstick use.
The only thing that will be tuff for you to do is I drilled out the original plug threaded hole and taped it 3/8 npt. I also milled out an area for clearance for the fitting. I have a machine shop so it was easy. You may be able to find someone to do it for you.
You can get the fittings and tube at a hardware.cost about 5 bucs to do. : )

 

Please forgive me for jumping in on this thread. I have been thinking about and planning this mod since 2006 when I got my MCS and learned how hard it is to check/fill the rear of the SC.

I approached this issue a little bit differently from Lathedog, but any solution is good. I had always planned on pulling the SC at 100K and checking the PTO end oil and doing this mod. I was lucky, I should have checked it much earlier. Two weeks ago at about 100K I pulled the SC and found no oil at all in the PTO end. But the gears and needle bearing looked almost perfect, and no metal residue inside the housing. So I did the mod.

I drilled and tapped a 1/4 inch pipe hole in the side of the PTO housing at an angle. I inserted a pipe/tube connector (1/4 tapered pipe x 3/8 inch tube) into the hole. I have recently pulled that connector and inserted a short 1/4 inch brass pipe into the hole and then put a tubing adapter on the end of the nipple. Works better. I positioned the hole as far to the rear of the housing as possible to avoid the large gear but not to cut into the thicker flange of the housing. I angled it so that a dipstick would go to the deepest far corner of the housing. I applied the proper anaerobic sealant and a new water pump and put it all back together.

Once the SC was back on the engine and the car sitting level, I added the specified 40cc of SC oil. After settling, I inserted a dipstick made of a piece of electrical wire w insulation. I knew that 10 1/2 inches was the appropriate distance to insert. I measured and recorded the oil level so that I now have a reference for the correct full amount of oil that should be in the housing. Now it is a quick matter of taking the cap of the dipstick tube and inserting a dipstick the exact distance, pulling it and observing the oil level. Additional oil can easily be added as required with a small funnel.

Now no more wondering if there is any oil in the housing. I can check it and know in about one minute. Hope this is interesting and helpful for anyone who has a need to pull their SC. Wish I had done this earlier.

Attached Thumbnails

 

Same journey but different path. Looks good.

 

And so does yours. I'm always amazed at how a manufacturer designs something that cannot easily be checked or maintained.