While waiting for my heads I decided to revisit my oil pump. I’ve gone back to the standard gears, and tightened up the end clearance to .0015 I’m using just the purple TA shim as my gears DO NOT protrude above the TA pump housing. All mocked up and snugged down dry on the bench the gears spin freely with just a tad up/down movement. I gave up on feeler gauges
You can magic marker gear sides and see if one rubs the plate or cover before the other. You could slide the side of the heavy hitting gear on glass or granite using 400 grit. Maybe remove .0003-.0005 I get gears as tight as I can that still allows them to spin freely. No feeler gages needed....you should barely detect .0015 clearance. Cigarette pack cellophane is .001 If I had great pressure, I just leave it together!
My hot idle pressure was 15 lbs with 15/40 that WITH the high volume gears. My build before this was 20 lbs hot idle with 10/30 WITH standard gears. What trips me up is assembled DRY, and the booster plate secured as in the photos, the gears spin freely, VERY little up/ down movement, but as soon as I’d dribble Lucas assembly lube it would jam the gears I ended up using the RED shim and the gears rotate WITH the Lucas lube now.