The XP-400 SRE engine was manufactured in 2006. It shared the same Ryton sump as many other Superior XP engines. The sump was designed out of a composite that made it lighter. During start-up on some customer units, if the engine were to backfire it was possible to crack the sump. I flew the sump for almost 80 hours and had no trouble at all. But, just in case I filed a warranty claim with Superior and had their new redesigned sump on my doorstep in a few days. This shows the work done to replace the sump.
Removal of the Ryton sump was easy. Disconnect mixture/throttle, drain oil, remove exhaust, remove intake tubes then the entire intake/oil sump drops off. The hardest part was cleaning off the old gasket material. The engine data plate is rivited to the sump, so you had to drill out the rivits and fasten the data plate to the new sump with rivits supplied. Also, you must retain the sniffle valve from the old sump and install in the new sump.
Installation was also rather easy. Everything in reverse order. The new sump uses entirely different intake tubes that are shorter and have a more direct line to the intake port on the cylinder. I would think this has to be better. Also, this is what Superior calls a “Cold Air Sump” because the intake part is a seperate part that is bolted to the sump. That keeps the intake away from the hot oil pan, in an attempt to keep it cooler and keep your intake air cooler.
