A few year back, I replaced the original steel sump with this aluminium one to make the bottom of the cowl more streamlined. You can read a bit about it here: http://samhoskins.blogspot.com/2010/05/so-whats-deal-sam.html and here: http://samhoskins.blogspot.com/2010/05/new-oil-sump-engine-start.html
Oil leaks are hard to detect. I was pretty certain I had a crack on the flat aft edge of the sump. I got hold of a dye penetrant kit and it told me a different story. What I thought was a crack was only a scratch. The main culprit was a crack in a weld next to the filler spout, in the right side of the photo. (The big red blobs in the middle are from not being able to remove the excess penetrant under the support gussets).
I took the tank to a local talented welder to fix it up. He is going to have to hang on to it for a few days, so no aviating until then.
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