I want to use the Hi-vol oil pump kit from T/A. I know must people don't reccomend it due to unneccesary wear to the cam bearings and Distributor. Wold that be a non-issue if I used the adjustable regulator to max oil pressure at about 65 PSI? Thanks Joe
No, Those big gears still take more power to spin. You never hear about problems with the small block pump because it is smaller than the big block pump. The hi-volume/ hi-pressure kit used to be the only fix for worn out covers and loose bearing clearances. Now, we have the repro timing cover by TA, and it is a beautiful piece. I understand if your on a budget, as the TA cover is pricey. I would find a good used cover, and blueprint the clearances. Then use the booster plate with an adjustable regulator. There are so many ways to wipe out the front cam bearing, especially on the first start of a new engine. The HV-HP pump simply isn't necessary to get good oil pressure.
i put a HV kit in a rebuilt 455, after reading the bad press i took them out, and with just 1500 miles on it the distribtor gear was warn pretty good, and that was useing the stock spring, i then put in a set of stock gears and the booster plate, i have 20 psi at 800 rpm hot. also changed out the distribitor gear, i will save those long gears for a moter that needs them
How does one blue print the oil pump? The only adjustable part would be the gears to the booster plate. Other than that how do you blue print it? I don't know how to set gear backlash. thanks Joe
I have the same question, how do you blueprint an oil pump? I know about drilling out the passages and do a little cleanup but nothing else. I need the book "blueprinting a Buick oil pump for dummies."
I know fist hand about how bad these pumps are. One day I was going to drive my 70 to work. I went out and started it. I have to sit in it and hold it a 2000 RPM because it doesn't have a choke. About 30 seconds into warming it up it sarted to pop and sputter and 10 seconds later a large pop and it died. I thought OK maybe some trash got in the carb. So I checked out the carb, all was good. So I went too start it and It wouldn't fire up. HMM, maybe the fuel pump went south. Checked it it's all good. Next checked for spark, I had none. Pulled the cap all looked good. Changed the module and coil (always have spares). Still nothing. So I thought the pick up went bad. Pulled the distributor and holy crap! The teeth on the distributor were completly gone. I then looked at the cam gear ant it to was gone. The engine only had 1200 miles on it. So that $75 part ended up costing me about $400 in the end.
If you run the HV pump, run the alum-bronze gear from T/A performance to keep from wearing out your cam. I have run this pump on my motor for over 20k miles, no problems, I do keep a check on the dist. gear and when the teeth get to a point i replace it (about 7-8k miles) a 15min job. I have no choke as well but i NEVER run the rpm's over 1500 untill warm. Also I run mobil 1 5w-30 to lessen the load on the pump when cold. And yes max pressure should be around 60-65psi.
Joe, I'm talking about the end clearance between the gear faces and the pump cover. It should be .002 cold. If the gear pocket is not overly worn at the bottom, the gears should protrude above the gasket surface of the timing cover. From .002-.006. Put a straight edge across the gear faces, and measure between the straight edge and gasket surface. Then you use the appropriate gasket from TA's oil pump shim kit (TA1704). If the gears protrude .004, you use a .006 gasket to get .002 end clearance. It also helps to glass bead the gears, and drill a 1/8" hole in between 2 teeth of the idler gear. You should also check the clearance between the gear teeth and the side of the pocket. You are looking for .004 or less. The gasket surface of the timing cover can be machined if the bottom of the pocket is worn. Same with the pump cover surface. All this has been discussed before on this BB. If you do a search on oil pump clearances, you should get more info.
I think the gear is $35, i buy several at once, still using the ones i bought the first time. My cold pressure is about 65lbs@1000rpm's then will drop when hot, then when hot at 5k rpm's it will be about 60-65lbs.
One more thing too check is the length of the gears as one maybe longer than the other. You can lap the longer one too match the shorter one.
