A Diaper for my Baby, Containing the oil slick Options

[Spoke]

A while back, my father-in-law and I had a discussion about oil leaking from his 78 Chrysler Cordoba. To contain the oil in the garage, he used a cooking tray with newspaper inside to keep the oil off of the floor. When I asked him if he were going to fix the leak, his response was "why fix it and pay $100-$1000 depending on the repair when it costs me 1 quart of oil every other month? Besides, look at the oil in a parking lot. All cars leak oil"

So for my leaking 914, I just use cardboard in the garage, works good. However, the 914's been banned from my friend's driveway since he doesn't like the oil spots. I thought about carrying some cardboard in the trunk and whipping it out when parked on driveways. Then I thought about my father-in-law and decided to carry a cooking tray with me. Not in the trunk but under the car. So with a couple of hose clamps and one of my wife's cooking trays, I now have a drip-less 914. It still leaks but not on the driveway. The next step is to add an old towel on the inside to absorb the oil, and a cookie cooling rack to keep the towel in place. Some day I may rebuild the engine, but for now, I'll just drive it.

Spoke

[mightyohm]

The cooling air gets forced DOWN and out over the cylinders and the oil cooler. You are blocking that air from escaping (or at least slowing it down) which will cause temps to rise. You are also reducing the effect that air rushing under the car has on drawing hot air away from the engine. I think it is a bad idea given the fact that the stock motor usually needs as much cooling as it can get. If you really want to know, get an oil temp and CHT gauge and measure it with and without the pan with the same outside temperature, and let us know what you find out!

Also, heat exchanger fires do happen. Keeping pools of oil near the exhaust on purpose is a really bad idea.