As I was sitting here scrolling the board and looking at my parts list for TA that I'll eventually order for my 70 engine build a thought crossed my mind. I've had oil pressure issues with my current motor (72 455) and I was told that when the previous owner did the engine swap he had the 455 rebuilt but took parts off the 430. The center sump oil pan would have been one of them in order to get the 72 455 to fit in the 69 Riv X frame. If he switched the 5/8" pick up tube for the smaller 1/2" pick up tube thinking they were the same size or the other one (1/2" tube) was in better condition would that effect my oil pressure enough where you would notice? My hot running oil pressure is usually 30-35 psi max, that's with my adjustable regulator turned all the way in flush with the nut.
if I was guessing the pickup diameter is not causing a major issue. either tube is bigger than the passages in the block. other clearances say in the pump mains and rods, lifters are the biggest causes for lack luster pressure. when the motor was last rebuilt did they do the oil modification to the block??? I would verify pump clearances, make sure there is a booster plate, check pump gear cavity for wear in the pocket or too much side clearance. without tearing the whole motor apart. this is about the only thing you can do to help. if unable to set the clearances or if cover is worn or damaged, buying a cover setup ready to go is great choice. Ta offers this for about 800 if the pricing on the website is correct http://www.taperformance.com/proddetail.asp?prod=TA_1533A Finishline motorsports offers on as well for under 500 if the website pricing is correct. They use the proform cover https://www.finishlinemotorsports.com/big-block-buick-loaded-front-cover.html I have the proform on mine with finishline scavenger system which requires an external pickup pan and remote oil filter and I see over 100 psi my last motor had a stk cover with port work done inside and booster and saw over 60 psi at normal rpms and 30 at warm idle
The block is a 72 so no oil mods needed since it's already the 5/8" feed. I was thinking the same thing about pump or main, rod clearances. I know when the motor was built they put a new proform cover on with a pump rebuild kit, booster plate and pressure regulator. Possibly they used the wrong gasket reassembling the pump and the clearance is to big. I am going to order a pump rebuild kit and see if that helps out in the mean time. I want this engine to live awhile longer until I get the other engine finished. So even if the tube was the smaller 1/2" on the 5/8" feed block it wouldn't make that much of a difference? It would be a real pain in the butt to try and check/fix this while the engine is in the car too
just because it's a 72 block doesn't mean there are not any oil mods needed. the later blocks do have the larger suction port, but the oil molds take care of the rest of the ports. when completely done they drill the inlet port, the cam tunnel, the passages to the mains, the passages in the front cover, and blend alot of 90* corners that out block is full of
I hear ya there but from my understanding in jim W oil mod thread most of those were for high horsepower engines and not needed for 500hp or less cruiser engines? I've done a few of them on my 70 block and was going get his opinion on doing some of the others. My 72 block had a basic rebuild nothing crazy as far as I was told by the guy who did the work. I'm not even sure if it had any of the aligning work done at the machine shop? There's so many uncertainties that's why I'm building the other engine so I'll know what I got, then I can tear apart the 72 and see what was or wasn't done and not be down my car. I appreciate your feedback Ben and it's safe to say I'll focus on the pump area of things and get all that checked out and fixed and go from there cause that motor isn't coming out until the new one is ready to go in lol
It's a cruiser mostly Larry but I would like to have fun the odd time. My shifts would probably be around 5500 rpm at most when I'm at the track and obviously lower in around town.
well as I said earlier, if your not going to tear into the motor then the pump is the only thing you can do externally that might help with the oil pressure. I dont know but other might I doubt know if passages in the cover of the TA,or Proform covers are better than the stk cover. but I know there is gains in the stk cover from porting and helping the turns. I would like to think they made them better. gear side and end play difference make a difference.......if you want to help bandaid it more they make a pump gear set that is longer which moves more oil of course. but it does put extra load on cam and distributor gear. but that's better than low oil pressure. 35 warm cruising isn't the end of the world, what is warm idle........if it's at least 15 psi odds are it might be just fine
Yeh I seen a video on YouTube of a guy drilling out the passage in the cover to 5/8" I think it was and radiusing the turns, that may help. I will probably just rebuild the pump and get the side and end play in spec. The engine runs good I've just read alot on here about oil pressure should be up in the 60's psi range and mine is way lower. Hot idle pressure mine sits around 10-15 psi and like I said under load its 30-35 psi. I've seen it at 40 the odd time but that's not for very long as I get driving it usually drops to 30-35.
Larry when JimW built your engine did he do ALL the oil mods or just some of them? Reason I ask is your car is a street car as well as a track car correct?
Jim did all of the oil mods in that thread. I even have the oil pressure equalization line. I have kept it under 6000 RPM even though I have everything I need to shift at 6300 if I wanted to. Not worth it to me even if I got better times doing it. 5800 is where I have it set to shift. And yes, my car is a street car that occasionally goes down the track.
I don't ever plan on turning it into a full time track car or running nitro or anything crazy like that. So far I've done all the mods except for: - Main bulkhead enlargement -Bypass line/ pressure equalization line -Main feed enlargement & radius work I've been on the fence about doing the main feed enlargement mod, jim states that it is for engines with bigger/larger tolerances. What's your suggestion?
Do them all do it rite. That way if you get the itch you at least have the oil mods to handle it. Plus its fun to do all the mods, it really gets you thinking about how it all works.
