Funny Guy! Well, my Z06 runs 5/30 Mobil 1 and those roller lifters make some racket! And it's not worn out junk yet at 8k miles! Find me a boogie board yet??
Last two Sea Rays with the 350 and 454 Merc's same thing, straight 40 weight, and they run 'em cold, 152/156 deg I think mine were back in '88 and '96, AND they had oil coolers too! Only reason I could think of was the high load marine engines operate at, which heats up oil
Some have been asking about the condition of the oil pump (the one that was installed during the engine build). It was a new timing cover, new pump with orange spring.... If I am doing this correct I can get a .0055 feeler gauge between the gears and the straight edge... plus the thickness of the black gasket which I didn't measure. Does this mean it had way too much end clearance? The pump gears felt like they had little burrs on the edges and for a new timing cover there looks like some wear... Let me know what you think.... Before new TA timing cover I had about 40 psi at start up and within 10 minutes at 1500 rpm/190 degrees dropping to about 10 psi then I shut it off... With new TA cover/pump with booster plate I now have 75 psi at start up, after 20 minutes at 1500 RPM I had 25 psi at a constant 190 degrees.... with idle between 12 and 15 psi (not highway driven yet). I get that's its still la little low but a big improvement... people say they have driven with hot idle in the 10 psi range.. really don't want to pull the motor again...... What do you think?
Yes, you had too much end clearance. The pump gear faces should be above the timing cover gasket surface. That may look wrong, but it's not. You then have to use the gasket to set up the pump clearance. Take another look at the image Larry provided in his thread and see where the feeler gauge is located.
Bottom of the pocket is worn, sinking the gears in the pocket. That would give you way too much end clearance, if your measurements are accurate, .055 + the thickness of the gasket. That timing cover is worn. With a new timing cover, you still have low oil pressure. 25 psi @ 1500 is adequate, but lower than normal. It’s OK if the pressure rises with RPM and you have 10 psi/1000 RPM, but I would bet your bearing clearances are on the larger Chevy size.
Speaking of chevy clearances....my marine engines came assembled to the loose side of the range. Perhaps they anticipate running a cold block and it might be safe to assume boats run above freezing temps and would survive thick oil.
Wasn't the original cover new? If so, those gear pockets are machined too deep, not worn. Must be an out of spec chinesium imposter? Or the gears themselves are really narrow?
Yes, a brand new timing cover and gears that have 10 minutes run time...pump cover is worn. All is now replaced by TA timing cover/pump assembly. If it's safe to say that 20 minutes of 1500 rpm, the cam will be broken in i can drive it, idle it and get some more psi numbers again...... Answers bring up more questions....It has new crower cam, TA cam bearings. So what we are talking about here is that the main/crank bearings probably do not have as tight of clearance as they should? (Not allowing the pressure to build up) If I call my builder I want to be prepared. Thanks again all!
Yes, see if you can ask him what he set the main and rod bearing clearances at. This is a part of the page in the 1971 Buick Chassis manual, in the Engine section. Look at the recommended clearances. Think of the crank as a sealed pipe with holes in it. If you pressurize that pipe, pressure escapes through the holes. Think of the holes as the bearing clearances, bigger holes bleed more pressure. That is why Buick specified smaller bearing clearances. The front mounted oil pump supplies pressure, and the bearing clearances bleed some pressure off. The larger the clearances, the more pressure drops off from front to rear of the block. That's why some measure pressure at the rear of the engine to get a more realistic approximation of what there oil pressure is.
well, no surprise my builder hasn't called me back... However... I did fire it up again last night ... oil pressure seems to be extremely responsive to throttle. Once warmed up for 15 minutes.... at 1000 rpm had 25 psi, at 2500 rpm had about 40 psi and 3000 rpm had over 50. Idle still shows about 13 psi on my cheap Auotgage/Autometer mechanical gauge.... I wonder if this gauge just isn't very accurate at low pressure.... I think I might just give this a go as is with the new TA cover/pump...I can say that the oil pressure gauge moves up as fact as the tach.... Thanks again all....! Now to address tuning/idling.
If the gage moves and responds upward with increased throttle, that great! Take it out and run it. Vary speed and get a few miles on it before winter!
That is all well and good, but, you need to drive it to heat up the oil. I've said this many times before, simply warming it up in the driveway won't do it. Drive it at highway speeds for 15-20 minutes and then see what the pressures are. If you have 40 psi at 4000 RPM, and 50 at 5000, you'll be OK. Make sure you have enough pressure.
