Oiling mods for my combo - whats really worth doing?

So I've been reading through all of the oil mods, multiple times. I'd like to get some opinions on what the "best" mods are for my application. I'll definitely take this car to the track as much as possible this year, but most of the time it will be on the street.
Currently on the 430 soon to get back from the machine shop, I've got the 5/8" main feel drilled out, to match the 5/8" pickup. T/A grooved cam bearings, T/A booster plate and I'm going to lightly debur the timing cover sharp edges.
I'm wondering if the feed line to the rear cam galley is worth doing, or anything else additional? This has been beat to death, but its the first buick engine I'm building.
The previous 455 that was in the car threw a rod (at idle) which kind of scared me on what can happen. It only had a slight knock, pulled the car out of the garage and when I fired it up to pull it back in it spilled its guts. I've also been frantically buying up spare engines all over Ohio, fearing the worst. This has taken up the whole driving season this year so far, and do not want to deal with that again! I need my buck torque back!
I haven't torn down the 455 to see what really caused that to happen, but I'd like some peace of mind with the "typical" weak areas on my new build.

 

On a tight budget, you've pretty much nailed it. But for all the block work, if you're still using the 430 front/timing cover, there is still restriction there on the oil inlet side of the cover because of the original 1/2" design, it wasn't upped to 5/8" until later, so you might want to take a close look at the condition of the 455 cover instead. If it's a later cover with the larger oil passage, in decent shape in the water pump, coolant passages and oil pump pocket, it might be a good way to go. Then, we'll talk about how to set up the oil pump itself.

Want to save yourself years and hundreds of dollars of grief? This cured me of all of that after years of struggling with oil pressure, cam gear wear, etcetera:

http://www.taperformance.com/proddetail.asp?prod=TA_1531B

For a little more, they'll set up and assemble the oil pump as well. Back when I was fighting all this stuff, even with NOS pieces from TA, this new cover lately is the ONLY way to go.

Devon

 

What kind of RPM's are you planning on running? Is the engine street only, or primarily street and some occasional track time?
In addition to the 5/8 suction line you already have done, I like to de-burr the block and lifter galley. Drill the Main feed (oil pressure sender hole) and drill the main bearing 2 through 4 feed holes and chamfer the holes. I did the bypass line on my last engine and it was probably overboard. I also put a good Timing cover (TA), plug the holes on the deck (if you'll use 455 rockers), and use screw-on front galley plugs.

I'm sure others will chime in and give very good advise. This is what I do and I run my car on the street primarily with going to the track 4-5 times a year. I shift about 5800-6000 RPM's and run 12:00's.

 

Definitely will have track time, but mainly it will be on the street. Running out of time this year, but I'd like to run it at least 2-3 times.I do have 2 different 455 timing covers I can use, although I have been eyeing the fully built T/A cover. That may be an option, but this was sort of a budget build. Re-using pistons with a ball hone, new bearings, but nothing expensive. I don't think I will ever wind it up past 6000 rpm (on purspose at least). What purpose does drilling the mains 2-4 serve? I thought they were smaller so there isn't a loss of psi? I am using the screw in plugs in the front of the cam galleys, and plugging the deck although I might still use 430 rockers with hybrid pushrods. That depends on money left and the piston to valve clearance I suppose. I have both 430 and 455 rockers to choose from. I got the shim kit and an oil pump kit with the adjustable regulator also. I'll be asking about setting that up later for sure.

 

Check out the thread Larry posted. This is what I used. I did most of the mods and my oil pressure at Hot idle 22 PSI. If you look at each mod Jim explains why and when to do it. If you use a stock timing cover there are a few mods to do also. George's website has those mods.

http://www.buickperformanceclub.com/OilingMods.htm
http://www.buickperformanceclub.com/oilflow.htm




Three are some here also.


www.rowand.net/Shop/Tech/BuickOilingImprovements.htm

Like I said earlier, I used Jim's mods and they worked out great for me.

 

I followed JW's thread for my street/strip rebuild, just doing the first couple mods. Did not drill the 2, 3, 4 main feeds, or do the rear feed line.

My rod and main bearings are both 0.002", plus or minus a few tenths. I used the dual groove dual feed cam bearings, which seem like a much better design than the factory solution.

I did add a Stewart Warner mechanical oil pressure gauge at the back of the block, which I strongly recommend. Gives me a much better idea of what the mains and rods are actually experiencing than the factory sensor location. The back-of-block location is also much easier to route the oil pressure line into the cabin from.

I ended up buying the ready-to-run oil pump and timing cover from TA Performance. It's expensive, but I view it as an insurance policy. The fully built timing cover costs about as much as a set of rod, main, and cam bearings and a gasket kit... which is the bare minimum you're going to be replacing, if your rebuild melts down due to lousy oiling.

I get 22 PSI at hot hot idle (200 degrees, 650 RPM), running Valvoline VR1 10w-30. By 1500 RPM, I'm at 40 PSI. 65+ at 2000 and higher. If anything, I have too much oil pressure.

 

Is that 22 PSI at the rear of the block? Have you checked the difference from front to rear? Sounds good.


Bob H.

 

Yes, that is 22 PSI at the rear of the block. It would be interesting to see the drop from front to rear. I have the idiot light hooked up at the front location, but I do have an electric gauge sender wire dangling up there. I just gave away my electric oil pressure gauge, but I might be able to borrow it back one of these days, in the name of science.

 

Nice looking build! How about some more pics of it?


Derek

 

Thanks for the compliment. It's a pretty basic all-iron sleeper build. Long term I want to put my "Wildcat 375" aircleaner on it . Leaking oil at the rear main seal, so I haven't been able to take it to the track yet, but it feels real fast on the street. Hoping for 12s-13s.

1971 455 block, with the JW oiling mods.
NOS Sealed Power 2362P STD pistons, measured at 9.75:1 static compression
1970 455 heads, Stage 1'd, ported, and polished by Greg Gessler
1971 Quadrajet, rebuilt to Stage 1 specifications
TA Performance Timing Cover, Oil Pump, Water Pump
Lunati Voodoo 68001, 219/227 @ 0.050"

 

Very nice looking build, I like the red you used! I also love when the bolts aren't spray bombed, gives it an attention to detail look, good looking work. Sounds like you have the right parts to make it run as well, get that leak fixed and you're in business!


Derek

 

I went a little nuts on the bolts- almost every single fastener on the motor is a black oxide hex flange. They look okay if you paint over them, but then if you ever have to loosen them it ruins the paint job. I also hate the look of exposed gasket edges... so I ended up painting all my parts separately, assembling the motor, masking off the fasteners, and then painting again. Way more work, but I love the result.

The red is just Duplicolor CE1653, which you can get in any auto parts store. I think it's a little too glossy, but I think it matches the hue of "Buick Red" almost exactly. I think I like Krylon 2114 better, but it is getting harder and harder to find...

 

The only oil system modification worth doing is the one you were too lazy to do.

 

Who are you talking to, and about which mod, Mike?

 

Well after almost 2 months the machine shop is done with the block. This kind of has to be a budget minded build, although it is never cheap. As a younger fella I don't have the deepest pockets, but want to do all that I can as far as far as oil mods that lay in the budget. I am on the fence with the rear feed line, and possibly drilling the main feed and the 2-4 mains. I'll be inspecting the 455 timing covers I have to use the one in best condition, unless they all are worn I may have to bite the bullet and get a T/A. Hopefully I'll be assembling by next week!

Stampy, love that build. Looks great! I was recently looking for buick engine red paint codes so I could just spray it with a gun but haven't had any luck. May go with that Duplicolor if I cant find the Krylon.

 

That was the point exactly !! I was referring to the original question. As far as a budget on building the engine, oil mods, are by far the least expensive of all procedures you can do. I won't go into a list as to what is the most important to do but I will give you my opinion on a couple of things.
1 The crossover line on the back from galley to galley is useless and can cause a leak.
Why? With a clean engine the groove in the cam in the front journal on a flat tappet cam or roller cam with a groove above the bearing from right to left or a T/A dual groove bearing, delivers sufficient to oil the lifters, push rods and rockers on the driver bank.
2 The balance line is only necessary on an engine with larger clearances and can cause a leak.
Why? With stock clearances .0015-.002, you have about a 6 -8 lb pressure drop from front to rear.
With performance clearances, .002-.0025 you have about 9-11 lb pressure drop.
With race clearance .0025-.0035 you have as much as 15 lb or more.
3 Be careful with the blend from the oil pick-up hole to main oil galley hole, you can grind into the crankcase.
Be careful with enlarging the hole from the sending unit to the cam journal, use small steps in drill size to avoid getting off center, you can get the hole thin below the water jacket and it can rupture from the oil hole to the water jacket. Same goes with re-tapping the oil sender to 3/8 npt as the water jacket is close there.
4 Make sure the front galley plugs are not restricting the the oil flow, even some drive in plugs are wrong in kits and can be too deep.

 

Mike thanks for the through explanation! I know the oil mods are cheap, but not if I make a mistake and need another block... This isn't the first engine I've assembled, but its the first Buick. I've never seen so much drilling and "porting" on an engine block like this before. I used to be a big mopar guy, and these type of mods are done when you get into near full race engines. I think for this build I'll skip the crossover line, but I'm still considering drilling the sender hole and tapping 3/8 NPT along with drilling the 2-4 mains...

 

I can certainly see Mike's point of view. AMP and TSP have bolt built a lot of winning engines, so it's hard to "pick sides" between Mike and Jim... I chose to not drill the 2-3-4 mains based on this paragraph from JW:

When to Do:
All engines that will be operated above 5500 rpm, with rod and main bearing clearances at .0025 or above. I do not do this on street motors less than 500 HP, as they typically peak their power around 5500 or less, and the less material I can take out of this area, the better. This is also a bit trickier modification.

My engine has a rev limiter at 5500, has rod and main clearances between 0.0017 and 0.002, is a street motor, makes less than 500 HP, and doesn't make power above 5200 RPM or so. This was also my first "real" build, and I was in a borrowed garage with a deadline on the rebuild... I really did not want to risk my block, so I decided to not do the mod. It probably would have been fine, I am a careful and competent person... that was just the route I ended up taking. Mike and Jim are definitely the pros here- I am just a loudmouth with an opinion .

Keep us posted on your progress!