Timing cover/high oil pressure-volume and crank end play questions.

[fordkiller]

Hey guys,

Finally getting around to checking out a motor I picked up that supposedly had been rebuilt recently. Piston bore looks good with no ridge and installer had put in a .20/.20 crank. Also getting ready to degree the cam to see what is in there.

The crank and bearings looked good. I ordered/installed a new set of Clevite 77's and all main and rod bearing specs were within specs. I checked crank end-play (after setting the crank up per posts here for setting the thrust bearing) and ended up getting an end play reading of .0013. I saw specs on this are .003-.0011. Should I be too concerned with this? The crank still was shiny on the thrust surfaces and nothing really looked out of the ordinary as far as the old bearings looked. I've seen posts on here where folks have had much more end play and have been able to live with it. (their engines still ran OK as far as they could tell.)

I want to get a new timing cover for the engine. Taking the info. about the end play into account and I plan on going no faster than 11.50's eventually as a goal, (the roll cage threshold here in Michigan at my local track), should I think about getting a high volume timing cover/oil pump combo, get a timing cover and an oil pressure booster kit, or not worry about higher oil pressure or higher oil pump volume at all for a motor that's going to max out at 11.50's? I see arguments either way about raising oil volume/pressure here and wonder what would be best to do. I see several vendors offer timing covers with high pressure capabilities for $150+. I also see posts on higher volume pumps causing issues with wear in some of the timing cover areas. Any ideas?

FK

 

[earlbrown]

On that end play I wouldn't worry about it. Yes, it's out of spec, but in real life it's not going to matter. If you set the rear face of the thrust bearing correctly and both shells are on the same plane you're good to go. Keep in mind that .002" you're out of spec is the same thickness as the hair on your arm. It's not by much. Plus, since we have automatics, there's always a little pressure on the crank to keep it coaxed forward. You can always file a small groove on the upper shell to force feed a little oil to the thrust face and add some cushion (I recommend that mod 100% of the time anyways).

On the timing cover I never ever ever recommend a hi volume cover. All a HV cover will do is add extra load on the front cam bearing, timing set, cam gear, cam sensor gear (and tang), eat up horsepower, beat up on the oil and add additional heat. Concerning volume, the engine can only take so much volume. It's a function of bearing clearances and pressure. Once the pump supplies the engine with all it can hemorrhage at a given RPM and PSI, the extra is dumped back to the inlet side of the pump. The HV just routes a greater amount back to the front of the pump adding heat, wear and parasitic losses in the process.

With pressure, that's not relative to gear height. It comes from the stiffness of the spring and preload on the relief valve. The pressure can be adjusted with an adjustable regulator, shimming the spring, swapping the spring or adding and subtracting gaskets under the 1" nut. (All that stuff can be done in seconds with the engine in the car without draining the oil too).

You don't really tailor the oil system to your HP or ET goals like other parts when picking out a combo. An oil system pretty much has three jobs. It has to keep the engine happy at idle with enough oil to keep the lifters pumped up and avoid metal-to-metal (duh ), 2, it has to give sufficient pressure and flow at WOT to keep from making a mess at the end of the track (duh again ) and 3, This one is often overlooked and never thought about.. It has to have a high enough ramp rate to get on the clock before the engine gets on the pipe and starts making some serious torque... What I mean by that is that our engines have a torque curve unlike a SBC or an import. We make our torque down low and and we make a LOT of it!
If you have an engine that makes a crapload of torque at 2000RPM but the pump doesn't get on the clock until 2500RPM, that's a recipe for accelerated wear and frequent rebuilds.


I'm not sure where you seen $150 oil systems as I guess I overlooked them, (I have an oil pump guy so I don't shop LOL) but I would SERIOUSLY think hard about going cheep on such and important component. This is one assembly where a failure REALLY hurt$$$$.

 

[hiboom]

I like the standard oil cover with the earl brown mod done to it. I have used it on 3 motors and i'm very satisfied I put a high volume on my first engine and took it back off seemed like it pumped a lot of oil to the top end and I'd rather keep it in the lower end I don't have any scientific evidence to back this.Buy a good quality one though I've had trouble in the past with the cam sensor alignment with cheaper cover and a little dremel work to get them to work .If your old cover is still useable maybe do the mod and reuse it

 

[vacuum 6]

Earl,

How do you like to shim the spring?

 

[earlbrown]

I don't Years ago, I made a few adjustable oil pressure regulators. I still have one in a box somewhere. Oddly enough nobody wanted them.

On my personal cover I run the weak spring with no shims, and 0W30 synthetic oil. The oil light usually goes out before the engine starts.

When I build covers for other people I include two springs and two gaskets for under the 1" nut. That will give 4 different settings depending on personal preference, oil weight, ambient temp, driving preferences (cruising .vs hotlapping a track), and if there's an oil cooler.

From the feedback I've gotten back from people running my covers, it seems a lot of people run the stiff spring with one gasket and then choose the oil weight that gives them the pressures they like to see. From talking to them, a lot of people were having issues that caused them to run 20W50 before getting one of mine. Then going lighter and lighter to get where they want to be.

 

[Top Speed]

Earl, just curious. How many covers are you up to now?

 

[earlbrown]

Earl, just curious. How many covers are you up to now?

Just reading that made me taste aluminum dust in my throat!

Not sure on the total but it's deep off in the triple digits. It's easier to just keep track of all the Dremels I've had to bury!

 

[vacuum 6]

I don't Years ago, I made a few adjustable oil pressure regulators. I still have one in a box somewhere. Oddly enough nobody wanted them.

On my personal cover I run the weak spring with no shims, and 0W30 synthetic oil. The oil light usually goes out before the engine starts.

When I build covers for other people I include two springs and two gaskets for under the 1" nut. That will give 4 different settings depending on personal preference, oil weight, ambient temp, driving preferences (cruising .vs hotlapping a track), and if there's an oil cooler.

From the feedback I've gotten back from people running my covers, it seems a lot of people run the stiff spring with one gasket and then choose the oil weight that gives them the pressures they like to see. From talking to them, a lot of people were having issues that caused them to run 20W50 before getting one of mine. Then going lighter and lighter to get where they want to be.

With your front cover modifications idle oil psi increases. What about cruising and WOT psi?

 

[earlbrown]

PSI increases depend on what you start with. If you've got a high mileage/loose engine with a worn cover it'll be night and day.

Idle is generally pretty high as my oil systems don't have to go into bypass mode to get both sides of the gears wet. A biggie filter is worth a couple PSIs just like normal.
WOT pressure is set by the spring and gaskets, so that's whatever you want it to be, and cruise is damn near WOT readings. My covers have a very high ramp up speed. That's important for cars that get on the pipe early in the RPM range. The last thing you want it to make a buttload of torque down low and have the pump get on the clock 750RPM later.

 

[vacuum 6]

Thanks for the info.

I had a HV cover with startup psi 85+ and WOT 80. Glad it was removed.