new engine build question . low oil pressure at idle !!

[earlbrown]

Odd. The most I've ever seen out of a GM cover is 1/2thou and that's a rarity to be that far out of square. Then again the covers I use have better final machining that the ones that went to GM for production.

 

[JayC]

More than likely he set the rod and main clearance to loose. He Probley set it up like A small block Chevy. I can set you up A front cover that will help get the psi up if you want.

This

I had some other jack leg down in Florida build me an engine and the first one was like yours. $6000 later, he build me one that was so tight, the oil pressure at idle wouldnt come down below 50 PSI.

People who dont know Buick engines should not be building them.

 

[turbo john FL]

so i should pull the cover and pump off and have it looked at ?can you tell me how to get a hold of chris hogeland about the front cover ?? thanks everyone for trying to help me here

 

[earlbrown]

You can remove the filter adapter housing and the pump gears and see what you're dealing with. If the cover's chewed all to hell, then you know you need to spend some money. If you have a GM cover that's still in good shape all it needs is some clean up and you might get away without spending a bunch of money.

Take a look at this and familiarize yourself with the inner workings of the pump before you take the adapter off..

http://www.turbobuicks.com/forums/buick-v6-turbo-tech/39169-how-build-front-cover-oil-pump.html

 

[Chuck Leeper]

so i should pull the cover and pump off and have it looked at ?can you tell me how to get a hold of chris hogeland about the front cover ?? thanks everyone for trying to help me here

Let the shop take the cover off/do all the testing/inspections... Each and every little item you touch can/will come back to bite you....

Ask for a "build sheet". If none was made, U R in trouble, already.

 

[TurboBuRick]

Has the question been asked? What brand filter are you using?

You would never think a filter could cause a restriction but that's exactly what 90% of off the shelf filters do.

Cheap oil filters restrict flow. Specially when running thick oil like 20w-50.

Off the shelf I would use a Mobile1 or wix. For max flow use Moroso or cartridge style race filter.

Good read here: http://moroso.com/catalog/categorydisplay.asp?catcode=20002

 

[Paul Lohr]

Two good points, Chuck.

I would let the shop mess with it until I lose confidence in them.

 

[turbo nasty]

FWIW on my new build a brand new gm cover right out the box the gear pocket was too big outside of GM's own specs in the shop manual, as a few thou over max.

I havent checked Silver seals dimensions but TA's is the best out there IMO

 

[haywire4130]

I'd bet the builder didnt document any clearances, and i agree that confronting him could be a delicate subject. A fresh build shouldnt need 20-50 to maintain good oil pressure! I would pull the front cover and send it to one of the guys mentioned here. It says he is running a girdle so the pan gasket wont be disturbed. I put a new gm cover on my motor when i built it and spent a solid 6 hours with a dremel cleaning up all the casting flash and deburring/radiusing everything! Holds 20psi hot idle with 10/40 and a splash of lucas oil treatment.

 

[turbo john FL]

latest update to this ordeal spoke with chris hogeland and he is going to put together a front cover for me and see what happens . chris sounds like a real good guy and is being rally helpful here . so should have new cover by next week and keeping my fingers crossed . brings mt too a new question as i see it has come up many times on here and i have tried to research it but nothing defenitive what is the best oil filter too use ?? thanks for all the input and help so far everyone !!

 

[turbo nasty]

Get a wix and your good

 

[earlbrown]

Puralator Pure1, Mobile 1, Baldwin, and of course Wix. And get a biggie adaptor if you don't already have one.

 

[williamsGN]

Napa Gold 1036 or Wix 51036, may require 1/2 to 1 quart extra to fill. These are larger than the small AC47 that came on the car.

 

[Steve V]

Puralator Pure1, Mobile 1, Baldwin, and of course Wix. And get a biggie adaptor if you don't already have one.

For those of use that have lost the oil cooler....can we get the standard oil filter pump cover and still run the biggies?

 

[earlbrown]

The adapter to run biggies with no cooler is just a ring. It has ID threads to match the cover and biggie external threads.

I've got a box of them around here somewhere but I can't remember the exact sizes 100%.

 

[Steve V]

The adapter to run biggies with no cooler is just a ring. It has ID threads to match the cover and biggie external threads.

I've got a box of them around here somewhere but I can't remember the exact sizes 100%.

Rjc sell those too??, need to get some of them

 

[bogies87]

Yes they do. They have 2 different ones. 1 if your running the factory cooler and the other if your eliminating it.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[turbo john FL]

ok latest info talked with guy at machine shop , no build sheet ugh!! kinda figured !! brought him oil filter i cut open from initial break in run had some very small particules in it he said looked normal for a first dump of oil . he seems ok so far i informed that a new front cover was coming from chris hogeland and we will see what happens after install . he claims he had clearences on crank etc at 1.5 thou , so he says anyway . so i wanted to keep him informed and that if this is not resolved via timing cover/oil pump, ill be back !!! also talked with jason today at rjc and ordered the adaptor to run a ph11 size filter on the car .

 

[earlbrown]

Drop the pan and see if there are any more small particles laying there waiting to attack the engine again (or a big puddle of moly if the builder likes that gunk).

 

[ek02]

While the pan is off, make sure the oil pickup is tight, and if you have a girdle, make sure the oil pickup extension is seating on the gaskets. The pickup extension sometimes has to be fitted to the girdle. The girdle has to be clearanced and the side of the adapter may need to be ground down where it touches the girdle. You may not have that problem if the pan rails were not machined down to witin .005 of the caps. Mine were, and the extension would not fit without modification. An air leak at the pickup will drop the pressure way down at idle, but the pressure will come up when you rev it, especially with a High volume pump.