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myths about high volume oil pumps

21K views 26 replies 16 participants last post by  gkull 
#1 ·
I've been meaning to bring this up and the brake pressure/volume thread reminded me.

I get irate when people talk about HV oil pumps being bad because there is too much flow and it will pump too much oil to the top end starving the sump.

Pressure and engine clearances determine the flow. So for a brand new engine with both oil pumps putting out 80psi the flow is exaclty the same.

In an engine with worn bearings or higher clearances the standard pump will not be able to maintain 80psi because it doesn't have the size to flow more at that pressure. The HV can keep up and will maintain the 80psi even though more oil is escaping past the bearings ie higher flow.

A high volume pump will be able to maintain more pressure on a higher mileage or higher clearance engine than a standard pump. That's a good thing. A damn good thing.
 
#3 ·
you shimmed the bypass spring to get a higher spring rate so the pump would bypass less and up the pressure.

Think of it as the oil pump is bypassing excess flow all the time bleeding off the extra. A lot more when the engine is new. As the engine ages the flow requirement go up then the pump bypasses less. At some point the pump is not bypassing anymore. From this point on, as the clearances increase the pressure will just go down.

It sucks to have about 5psi oil pressure on a hot engine during idle. A hv pump would do better.
 
#4 ·
now think it thru,
(1)pressure is the resistance to oil flow
(2) the high voluum pump can push about 25% more oil
(3) the oil pump bye-pass circuit limits the max pressure in either size pump to about 65lbs-75 lbs MAXIMUM before it BYE-PASSES all additional oil voluum
(4) the engine can accept and use only the max flow voluum that the engine passages can flow at the max pressure the pump provides , at any point less than max pressure the passages can flow only what the pressure and voluum provided by the pump supplies
(5)if the bearing clearances can flow more than the pump provides in voluum and pressure at any rpm level the film of cooling oil that provides a cushion between the bearing surfaces are at risk of not being supported and seperated by that cushion of oil
(6) now since the sweep voluum is greater with the high voluum pump it will reach that bye-pass circuits max pressure at about 25% lower rpms and supply a POTENTIALLY higher voluum of oil to the supply passages/bearings
(7)SO... all a high voluum pump does is provide the maximum oil flow the engine can use up to the max pressure allowed by the bye-pass circuit at a 25% lower rpm level if the system can reach max pressure, but it also supplies 25% more oil at every rpm level below that point to provide additional cooling and protection for the engine. and if the engine can flow more than the stock pump can provide the high voluum pump helps fill the need faster
(8)oil flow through the bearing clearances INCREASES at a faster rate as the rpms increase
(9) in most engines the oil flow can be provided by the stock pump IF the clearances are close to stock AND THE RPM LEVELS ARE KEPT IN ABOUT THE idle-6000rpm range but if rpm levels exceed ABOUT 6000rpm,or if bearing loads greatly exceed the stock hp levels, or the clearances are greater than stock, the high volume pump is a good idea , simply because it potentially provides that extra volume of oil.

any less than about a 1/4" tends to restrict oil flow into the pick-up on many oil pump pick-up pan combo designs and more than about 3/8" to about 1/2 MAX tends to allow air to be sucked under some hard brakeing or accelleration with some pan and pick up designs so a 3/8"-1/2" pick-up to pan floor clearance is what I tend to try for, Ive seen numerious cases where a high voluum pump was installed without checking the clearances (and of course the pick-up moved closer to the oil pan floor simply because the oil pump itself is longer and the pick ups deeper in the pan if its reused from the old pump)and the engine SEEMED to run out of oil pressure almost instantly on accelleration, (im sure this is what leads to the myth of pumping the pan dry, but simply swapping pick-ups and verifying the pan floor to pick-up clearances cured the lack of oil flow into the pump and restriction that was the true cause of the low oil pressure condition.

remember the high voluum pumps have a deeper body to fit the longer impeller gears. this places the oil pump pickup closer to the oil pan floor if no other changes are made when swapping to a high voluum pump from the standard pump and can restrict oil flow into the pump


if you choose to install a high volume oil pump you should SERIOUSLY consider the fact that the pump is only a small part of the whole oil system,(which includes a high volume BAFFLED oil pan (7qts or more is ideal) and a windage screen, which is necessary to quickly return that extra oil to the sump, and doing the distributor mod is a big help, as it prevents any potential for cam/gear wear (something already almost non-existent with synthetic oil and the proper distributor gear material.)


the bye-pass spring only limits the pressure at which the bye-pass OPENS thus it only effects the upper pressure limit and has NOTHING to do with oil pressures or flow BELOW that level

BTW heres an old post that will answer several questions

I just got asked

" I just installed a new oil pump and have no oil pressure over about 1500rpm. but IM pulling about 24 psi at IDLE?? whats wrong GRUMPY"

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewforum.php?f=54

the oil pick-up needs to be mounted between 3/8-1/2" from the oil pan floor.MOUNT THE PUMPS INTAKE TOO CLOSE TOO THE PAN FLOOR AND YOULL GET THE RESULTS YOUR SEEING! THE reason is that at low rpms the pumps pick-up can feed enought oil but speed up the pump, the flow requirement goes up and since the pick-up can,t supply the pumps needs, it cavitates and oil pressure falls rapidly to near ZERO ..untill the rpms drop back to the point where the pick-up CAN supply the pumps needs

HERES MORE OIL INFO

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=2187

small block oil pumps generally but not in all cases have 5/8" pickup tube dia. while BIG blocks generally but not in all cases have 3/4" pickup tube dia.
keep in mind that in many cases the big block pump can be bolted onto and used on the small block engine (a comon mod) and that you need to carefully check clearances on the oil pump,oil pump drive shaft to distributor length and pan to pickup clearances in all oil pump installations

braze the pick-up tube to the pump body so the pick up is 3/8" MINIMUM, 1/2" maximum from the oil pan floor and use a large lump of MODELING CLAY (every mechanic should have some its great for checking clearances)on the pickup then install the pan temp. with no gasket and remove to measure the thickness of the clay
your local arts/craft store sells it in 1 lb blocks I usually use brite blue or black but suit your self, a digital caliper or even a ruler will get you the thickness measurement your looking for)

»http://store.yahoo.com/teacher-parent-store/modelingclay.html

http://www.guildcraftinc.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=102-500

once its correctly possitioned ,remove the bye pass spring and gears from the oil pump,and have the pick-up brazeD or welded to the pump body, then after it SLOWLY AIR cools (DON,T DROP IT IN WATER LET IT AIR COOL)replace the byepass spring and gears, lube the pump,with assembly lube on the gears, check the clearances, check clearances again! and install! just be damn sure its brazed or welded in the correct location as that 3/8"-1/2" is critical to good oil voluum feeding the pick-up




http://users.erols.com/jyavins/solder.htm«
http://www.tinmantech.com/html/faq_brazing_versus_soldering.html

http://www.epemag.wimborne.co.uk/solderfaq.htm

silver soldering is basically lower temp brazeing , the soldering metal flows over the surface and into micro cracks in the surace of the other metal forming a almost unremoveable bond to the other metals surface it allows you to stick iron to steel or brass to steel, it works more or less like normal solder does on copper but at higher temps and has a much stronger grip in addition too working on iron and steel









I vastly prefer the 5 BOLT BBC style pumps with the 12 tooth gears and thier larger 3/4" pick-up VS the small 4 bolt pumps with thier 5/8" pick-ups and 7 tooth gears. the oil flow is both higher pressure at low rpms and smoother in pulse presure spread,no! you don,t need it on a non-race combo, or even on some race combos but its nice to have and I willingly will loose a few hp pumping oil for better engine lubracation

most comon question I get? "will a high volume oil pump help or hurt my engine?" followed by some guy saying
"If you're using a stock capacity pan, the high volume oil pump could actually suck out all the oil from the pan before it is drained back in, thus creating bad, bad problems"
absolutely proven false bye SMOKE YUNICK with HIGH SPEED PHOTOGRATPHY and CLEAR WINDOWS IN ROCKER COVERS AND OIL PANbut what can and does happen is the oil pump pickup can and does get mounted or moved too high or low in the oil pan,restricting access to the oil supply, sometimes the pickup comes loose or under hard acceleration or brakeing the oil in a non-baffled pan can rush away from the pickup under (G) forces, this is not pumping the pan dry, a baffled pan with a windage screen with the same oil supply volume would work perfectly
ok lets look at a few things, pressure is the result of a resistance to flow , no matter how much oil is put out by the oil pump there is almost no pressure unless there is a resistance to that oil flow and the main resistance is from oil trying to flow through the bearing surface clearances and once the pumps output pressure exceeds the engines ability to accept the oilflow at the max pressure the oil return system/bypass spring allows the oil circles back through the pump ,now the amount of oil flow necessary to reach the furthest parts in the engine from the oil pump does not go up in direct relation to rpm, but it instead increases with rpm at a steadly increaseing rate that increases faster than the engine rpm due to centrifugal force draining the oil from the rods as they swing faster and faster since energy increases with the square of the velocity the rate of oil use goes up quite a bit faster due to the greatly increased (G-FORCES) pulling oil from the rod bearings over 5000rpm going to 8000rpm than the rate of oil flow increases from 2000 rpm to 5000rpm (the same 3000rpm spread) and remember the often stated (10 lbs per 1000rpm)needs to be measured at the furthest rod and main bearing from the pump not at the pump itself, next lets look at the oil flow itself, you have about 5-6 quarts in an average small block now the valve covers never get and hold more than about 1/3 to 2/3 of a quart each even at 8000 rpm (high speed photography by SMOKEY YUNICK doing stock car engine research with clear plastic valve covers prove that from what Ive read) theres about 1 quart in the lifter gallery at max and theres about 1 quart in the filter and in the oil passages in the block, that leaves at least 2 quarts in the pan at all times and for those that want to tell me about oil wrapped around the crankshaft at high rpms try squirting oil on a spinning surface doing even 2000rpm (yes thats right its thrown off as fast as it hits by centrifugal force, yes its possiable for the crankshaft WITHOUT A WINDAGE SCREEN to keep acting like a propeler and pulling oil around with it in the crank case but thats what the wrap around style milodon type windage screen is designed to stop)the only way to run out of oil is to start with less than 4 quarts or to plug the oil return passages in the lifter gallery with sludge or gasket material! now add a good windage tray and a crank scrapper and almost all the oil is returned to the sump as it enters the area of the spinning crankshaft! forming a more or less endless supply to the oil pump, BTW almost all pro teams now use DRY SUMP SYSTEMS WITH POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT GERATOR PUMPS that are 3,4,or 5 stage pumps each section of which has more voluum than a standard voluum oil pump because its been found total oil control is necessary at high rpms to keep bearings cool and lubed

NOW I POSTED THIS BEFORE BUT IT NEEDs REPEATING
ok look at it this way,what your trying to do here is keep an pressureized oil film on the surface of all the bearings to lube and cool them and have enough oil spraying from the rod and main bearing clearances to lube the cam and cylinder walls/rings. now a standard pump does a good job up to 5000rpm and 400 hp but above 6000rpm and 400hp the bearings are under more stress and need more oilflow to cool and because the pressure on the bearings is greater you need higher pressures to maintain that oilfilm.lets look at the flow verus pressure curve. keep this in mind, good oil flow volume across the bearing surfaces to cool and luberacate them and to provide a boundry layer between the metal surfaces is more important than the pressure reached at all rpms. since oil is a liquid its non-compressable and flow will increase with rpm up to the point where the bypass circuit starts to re-route the excess flow at the point were the pressure exceeds the bypass spring pressure. but the voluum will be equal to the pumps sweep voluum times the rpm of the pump, since the high voluum pump has a sweep voluum 1.3-1.5 times the standard pump voluum it will push 1.3-1.5 times the voluum of oil up to the bypass cicuit cut in point,that means that since the engine bearings leakage rate increases faster as the rpms increase because the clearances don,t change but the bleed off rate does that the amount of oil and the pressure that it is under will increase faster and reach the bypass circuit pressure faster with the high voluum pump. the advantage here is that the metal parts MUST be floated on that oil film to keep the metal parts from touching/wearing and the more leakage points the oil flows by the less the voluum of oil thats available for each leakage point beyond it and as the oil heats up it becomes easier to push through the clearences.now as the rpms and cylinder preasures increase in your goal to add power the loads trying to squeeze that oil out of those clearances also increase. ALL mods that increase power either increase rpms,cylinder preasures or reduce friction or mechanical losses. there are many oil leakage points(100) in a standard chevy engine.
16 lifter to push rod points
16 pushrod to rocker arm points
32 lifter bores 16 x 2 ends
10 main bearing edges
9 cam bearing edges
16 rod bearing edges
2 distributor shaft leaks
1 distributor shaft to shim above the cam gear(some engines that have an oil pressure feed distributor shaft bearing.)
so the more oil voluum the better.chevy did an excelent job in the design but as the stresses increase the cooling voluum of the extra oil available from the larger pump helps to prevent lubracation delivery failure, do you need a better pump below 5000rpm or 400hp (hell no! at that level the stock pump works fine) above that level the extra oil will definitely helppossiable deficient oil flow and bearing cooling and a simple increase in pressure does not provide a big increase in voluum that may be necessary to keep that oil film in the correct places at the correct voluum at all times.the stock system was designed for a 265cid engine in a passenger car turning a max of about 6000 rpm but only haveing the stress of under 300hp transmitted to the bearings, Im sure the orriginal designers never thought that the sbc or bbc would someday be asked to on occasion hold up to 450-800hp and 6000-8000 rpm. nore did they forsee valve springs that placed sometimes as much as 500lbs and up loads on the lifters and the use of over 9 to 1 compression ratios in the original design so the oil voluums and pressures necessary to cool those valve springs and bearings at those stress levels were never taken into account for that either , the stock pump works but was never designed for the loads and rpms that a modern engine hotrodded to over 450hp sees

the standard volume pump gears are about 1.2" long the high volume pump gears are about 1.5 inches long (depends on manufacturer)
heres the discriptions right from chevy

12555884
SBC Oil Pump, High Pressure Z28/LT1. Production high-pressure oil pump with 1.20" gears.Will produce 60-70 psi oil pressure. Does not include screen. The pickup tube dia. is 5/8" for this pump.
62.17

14044872
SBC Oil Pump, High-Volume. This high-volume pump has1.50" long gears.It has approximately 25% more capacity than a production pump at standard pressure. Does not include screen.

and yes I comonly build small blocks useing bbc oil pumps like the ls7 pump, it has 1.3" gears but they are bigger in dia. and have 12 not 7 teethlike the small block pumps (many standard sbc pickups use 5/8" dia. pickups) (the ls7 pump is best used on 8qt-9qt road racing oilpans as the larger 3/4" pickup flows lots of oil for extreme high rpm engines with a multi baffled pan useing windage screens, scrappers and cut outs for extreme (G) loads where a dry sump can,t be used or cost makes you stick to a wet sump pan. these LS7 pumps dont fit most sbc oil pans so your stuck using the high volume sbc oil pump if your not using a true racing 8-9 qt style oil pan in some cases

since I just got an E-MAIL about what mods are necessary or at least a good idea when running a high volume oil pump, and concern over possiable extra gear wear caused by the slightly and I do mean slightly increased pressure on the gears, guys Im getting the idea here that most of you are not aware that your normally suppose to cut a .060 wide x .005-9 deep grouve in the lower band on the distributor houseing so that extra oil sprays constantly on the contact point between the cam and distributor gears and that a ARP style drive shaft with a steel collar to hold the dirveshaft alignment on true center is mandatory for long high rpm use. look at this picture:



The grouve is cut under the bottom (O)ring in the band just above the gear (look at the picture above, (BTW the pic shows a smaller grouve than ideal)) and in line with the gears so that oil sprays on the gear contact points at all times, this is a mod most old time racers know about and use, but Im getting the idea the new guys have not picked up on it! (those two bands form the side of an oil passage in the block and the distributor shaft seals that passage, cutting the grouve sends a spray of high pressure oil onto the contact point at all times, if you dont cut the grouve your relieing on returning zero pressure oil flowing down the rear lifter gallery drain holes to lube the gears
BTW the other way to do this is to grouve the block in the distributors lower band area as this keeps the location of the oil jet constant as the distributor is turned, for a full contact spray on the gears so I generally do BOTH
btw
heres more OIL info

http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Oils1.html

http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilterstudy.html

http://www.unofficialbmw.com/all/misc/all_oilfaq.html

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

http://www.babcox.com/editorial/ar/ar10180.htm

http://www.melling.com/support/bulletins/default.asp

http://www.melling.com/select/oil_pumps_gm_chevy_small_block.asp













img]http://www.sallee-chevrolet.com/Engine_Blocks/images/12480157.gif[/img]

one or at the most two of outer plugs for the oil passages plugs above the cam, drill a .030-.038 hole in one or both , naturally the one on the left is prefered as the rotation favors that side for spraying oil eveywhere under the timing cover

BTW DRILL the removed oil passage plugs, while they are clamped between a couple boards with a drill press If you can, you don,t want metalic shavings in the engine

don,t get too wrapped up in worring about which oil is superior, keep in mind oils main function is to provide a lubracating film and transfer absorbed heat,away from the moving parts, almost ANY of the name brand oils do that well and ALMOST ANY oil will last at least 5000 miles without significant loss of its abilities to do that if the filters used keep the particals in it minimized AND the temp stays in the 190F-250F range. but like I stated earlier, oil needs to get up to 215F at least for a short time to burn off moisture, and above about 240F it slowly brakes down, its the regular replacement with clean oil , to remove the crud from the engine and good filters thats the key!
EVEN if you had the best oil in the world, that could easily last 30K-35K miles the CRUD & acids trapped in the oil from cumbustion,would cause wear and reduce its lubration abilities over time, if the filters don,t remove the majority of that crud the oils life expectancy is limited reguardless of the oil quality itself , and regular replacement is the key


a few pictures above may help

http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80781
 
#6 ·
I went with a standard pump, when the engine is cold she has about 75 psi, once she warms up she has about 55-60 psi, in drive at idle she reads about 30, but any input to the throttle and she instantly jumps to 55-60 psi again.

That's good enough for me.:thumbsup:
 
#8 ·
10 psi / 1000 rpm?

Grumpy, and/or anyone else who has a firm handle on this, I'd like to get your thoughts on the interrelated issue of excessive pressure. I've long subscribed to Smokey Yunick's (et al) observation that about 10 psi per 1000 rpm is sufficient for Chevy SB/BB V8's, racing or otherwise, anything more wasting power and heating up the oil... However, I constantly see members of this and (especially) other forums proclaiming what they perceive as the benefits of unnecessarily high pressures (i.e. hot 50+ psi at idle, hot 70-80 psi at cruise in engines that never see 7 grand, etc.).

What's your take on this? Isn't this just a sloppy practice by those who believe it's "insurance"? If Smokey was correct, and I have little reason to doubt he was, aren't they kidding themselves? Surely it's better to actually match the pump's flow characteristics (volume and pressure / viscosity) to the needs of a given build's oil delivery requirements, with it's particular restriction factors taken into account, and attempt to hit the old 10/1000 inasmuch as is possible...

Sorry, if it seems that these issues may have already been covered somewhat, or if it appears I'm asking for a re-statement of anything obvious. Just trying to check all the angles here. Thanks, in advance, for any further observations you may wish to post on this.

:cheers:
 
#9 ·
Ive always found the best results from keeping the low rpm pressure , in the 15psi-20psi at hot idle and no more than 65psi at high rpms,is really useful, the voluum required depends on the way the engines clearances and oil systems designed or modified ,voluum/viscosity/clearances in the approximately stock range works fine in most .
I like high voluum pumps but I certainly don,t use them IF the engines nearly stock as the standard Z28 SBC pump works fine
"the standard volume pump gears are about 1.2" long the high volume pump gears are about 1.5 inches long (depends on manufacturer)
heres the discriptions right from chevy

12555884
SBC Oil Pump, High Pressure Z28/LT1. Production high-pressure oil pump with 1.20" gears.Will produce 60-70 psi oil pressure. Does not include screen. The pickup tube dia. is 5/8" for this pump.
62.17


the true high voluum pumps like this below are not necessary UNTILL youve done extensive mods that require the expra oil flow voluum

14044872
SBC Oil Pump, High-Volume. This high-volume pump has1.50" long gears.It has approximately 25% more capacity than a production pump at standard pressure. Does not include screen."


now Im sure you want to know what mods, well that depends on the application
but I generally put a small grouve in the block in the distrib shaft mount hole to spray extra oil flow dirrectly onto the cam/distributor mesh point
I generally drill the two forward cam oil passage plugs with a .036 dril bit to spray oil into the back of the cam gear.

I generally use this tool,(below) to insure extra oil too the cam lobes

http://www.compcams.com/catalog/335.html

on solid lifter engines I use these

http://www.competitionproducts.com/prodinfo.asp?number=651080DL

I also run an OIL COOLER,

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=PRM-12311&N=700+115&autoview=sku

and use a WINDAGE SCREEN

http://www.competitionproducts.com/prodinfo.asp?number=32255

and a decent oil pan


several places sell sump extension kits so you can add capacity to the oil system





Ive also smoothed/enlarged the blocks drain passages, installed magnets to pick up metalic dust

I run a mix of 9 QTS of mobile 1 10w30 and 1 QT of MARVEL MYSTERY OIL in my 10 qt oil system in my main toy(the 1985 corvette) and a similar ratio in my other two vettes, but the longer I build and race cars the more Ive come to beleive that almost any decent name brand synthetic with some MMO added to get the extra solvents and detergents that the MMO has added will work just fine IF...you just keep the air and oil filters changed out at about 3000-3500 miles and the oil changed at 3500-7000 miles, and making darn sure you use a QUALITY oil filter and have a few MAGNETS in your oil pan.
the larger capacity baffled oil pans with a windage screen, help here as they tend to keep the temp stabile and the oil sump full
naturally your success will depend on keeping your oil temp in the correct operational range (190f-215F most of the time,max -250F) once the cars up to temp (preferably in the 215F-230F range at least several times durring each drive so it burns of moisture and can lubricate and flow correctly,(non-synthetics shoud not exceed about 230F and genererally work best in the 190F- 215F-225F range) and having the bearing clearances correct.
oil pressure should be between about 20 PSI at idle(once its up to temp.) and 60-65psi at high rpms.
but again the KEY if freqent oil and filter changes, failure, to change the oil and filters is usually the main problem but if the oil doesn,t reach 215F oil forms/traps moisture and tends form acids that are bad for bearings







http://www.knizefamily.net/minimopar/oilfilters/index.html
http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80781

http://www.elephantracing.com/techtopic/oiltemperature.htm

BTW, keep the oil temp in a narrow range and TUNNING the engine if FAR easier
 
#14 ·
BTW, for you big block guys, you want the oil pressure to be at least 15psi at idle and it should jump up quickly as the rpms increase, and as long as theres oil flowing fairly steadily from every rocker arm and pushrods at idle you should be fine, it doesn,t need to be squiting from the rockers,over the fenders, the design of the valve train, the geometry of the lifters too the oil passages in the block, the rockers to pushrod oil passages and rocker geometry all effect the flow rates, but its not necessary to squirt oil over the fenders to effectively lube and cool the valve train. a steady trickles at idles ok, (looser lash or less preload generally increases the flow voluum ,you may also want to verify the pushrods are clear inside and theres no sludge and the holes align for full oil flow, you might also check the clearance or lash (solid lifters)or lifter preload (hydrolics) and the viscosity of the oil used, and verify the pushrods don,t bind even slightly in the pushrod guide plates durring ANY point durring the full travel arc of the rockers as that does effect the volume of oil that reaches the valve train, get the rocker geometry and clearances correct and if the oil pressure is correct and you don,t abuse it too much the engine will last a long time.

BE AWARE NOT ALL BBC OIL PUMPS FIT ALL BBC ENGINES, the LATER GEN V, and GEN VI HAVE A DIFFERANT PUMP due to main cap clearance issues (YEAH IM AWARE they can be retro fitted)

 
#16 ·
OK first lets clear one factor up

"I Did not put in a HV oil pump but engine builder said “ we did put in high pressure pump”. Isn’t this the same thing? "

NO! its not the same, all standard design chevy oil pumps use a BYE-PASS circuit to limit MAX oil pressure, a HIGH PRESSURE pump is a standard pump with the heavier spring to delay the opening of the bye-pass circuit from the standard 60-65 psi to a higher 70-75 psi, thus it has zero effect on the voluum of oil only the pressure level the bye-pass circuit opens at that limits the MAX oil pressure.


this spring keeps that piston in place UNTIL the pressure on the high pressure side of the pump overcomes the resistance and opens a return passage to the low pressure side of the pump, thus limiting the max pressure the pump can achieve.

pressure is the way we read the resistance to flow, oil is a liquid and can,t be readily compressed, adding a bit of extra pressure from 65-75 psi has very little effect on the amount of oil flow but it does increase the effort necessary to pump that oil and the wear on the cam gear and distrib gear contact area, a high voluum pumps have 10%-30% LONGER gears and thus sweep a larger voluum of oil at any given pressure, so it reaches any flow voluum about 10%-30% faster or at a lower in the rpm range.
adding a high pressure spring generally won,t hurt a thing, but it won,t normally help much either, if you want more oil, go with a high voluum pump.
the mod to the lower band on the distributor is not mandatory, but it does tend to add to the life span of the cam/distrib gears

BTW
look at the spring in the picture, notice one ends LARGER , this end goes against the retaining pin, get it reversted and the piston in the bye-pass circuit tends to bind and won,t work correctly, some guys slide a small washer/shim :WTF between the pin and the spring, on most pumps that won,t do a thing but add slight resistance and delay the bye-pass circuit opening a lb or so, BUT on SOME pumps IT WILL cause the bye-pass circuit to not fully open or open at all, if you want higher pressure USE THE CORRECT SPRING,DON,T SHIM the factory spring, it tends to cause far more problems that it could ever cure.


the larger the oil capacity in a CORRECTLY DESIGNED baffled oil pan with a windage screen, the less likely youll have problems, thats why I built a custom 10 qt baffled oil pan and run with a crank scraper and windage screen ON MY 383 vette.
BUT,6 qts is fine in a good pan, 7-8 qts is better, if you have the room, yet, its not the capacity as much as how well the flow and scavaging is that the system has as it circulates the oil quickly back to the sump, like your timing chain the oil circulates from the lower to upper part of the engine and as long as the amount is adequate and the temp is reasonable and it continues to CIRCULATE and cool/lube the bearings ETC. the amount is not as critical as the constant flow and transfer of heat away from the parts that are suspended on that pressurized oil film:thumbsup:

BTW


A windage screen BOLTS to your MAIN CAPS holding the crank in the block, or its part of the oil pan, its NOT the oil gallery sheet metal cover that keeps hot oil off the under side of the intake





a crank scraper



removes oil forcing it into the sump as the crank rotates by it, both ideally need to be fitted with in about an 1/8" clearance to the rotating assembly, naturally the crank scraper DOESN,T CONTACT the crank assembly and mounts on the side of the oil pan where the rotation is UPWARD from the sump, so it tends to restrict oil flow from the oil pan that might otherwise get dragged around with the rotating assembly in the lower engine acting as an impeller at high rpms, you WANT the crank assembly to throw oil into, but not too drag oil out of, the sump, the windage screen or tray helps oil flow back to the pump and reduces drag from liquid and mist oil in the lower engine from oil that would otherwise be rotating with the crank assembly if it was blown around in the sump due to the spinning crank, the windage screen tends to isolate the sumps contents and speed the return of oil draining back from the upper engine
 
#17 ·
I too prefer the more robust 5 bolt pump and larger pickup, my thoery has always been that the pump is designed to product pressure and anything to reduce the restriction on the suction side is a good thing. I think this was mentioned but ALWAYS dismantle the thing and check for burrs or flashing in the passages. I have seen a couple require mild dremel work/matching to the main cap (dont go crazy just polish it a little).

I think the putty thing may have not been mentioned (probably was). With any pump install use like play doh or something between the pickup and the pan to get a feel for the actual clearance. You can use a straight edge on the pan rail and do alot of math to figure it out, but really wouldnt it be easier to stick some play doh on there put the pan on and measur ehow much it squishes?

Another point about high volume pumps is at sustained high rpm use (4:11s+freeway anyone? or even autocross) the oil helps to carry heat away from the bearings, so if the engine clearances open up enough to flow a few more gallons per hour through there, thats a few more thousands of btu you can carry away from the bearings. Of course the point is moot without an oil cooler as you will obviously drive oil temps up through the roof.
 
#18 ·
I'm using one of those melling HV oil pumps, it was leftover from my engine before I realized my engine was on it's last leg. There is nothing wrong with it, it's brand new.

Now my new engine is in place and when I crank it up it pegs my oil pressure guage all the way over to the right........I'm assuming this is normal for these pumps? I'm also thinking it's the wiring for my oil pump pressure switch as well. Engine sounds great.....I may swap it back out for a stock pump when I get a chance.
 
#19 ·
Melling makes several high volume pumps, but I assume you have the base M55HV.
I doubt you have problems with your wiring or gauge. The high volume pumps come with a 70psi relief setting, so at cold startup, pegging the guage is normal. I use a M55HV and a M10555 that is also high volume and the both peg the gauge too and they are "loose engines".
 
#20 ·
should you block off, the oil filter bye-pass?

SOME OLDER BUILDERS ARE UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT FORCING ALL THE OIL FLOW THRU THE FILTER ELEMENT IS A GOOD IDEA,...most have not thought it thru carefully, 90% of the guys use the standard disposiable filters with those thin synthetic or paper elements, the bye pass is there for a reason, and in my opinion its a good idea to leave it functional, when oil is cold or theres a rapid change in rpms the bye-pass tends to keep pressure spikes that result, from rupturing the filter element, a bit of unfilter oil momentarily is better than having an element rupture, or pull loose from its glued seams due to a pressure spike, resulting in a constant flow of partly unfiltered oil

http://people.msoe.edu/~yoderw/oilfilterstudy/oilfilterstudy.html
 
#21 ·
SOME OLDER BUILDERS ARE UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT FORCING ALL THE OIL FLOW THRU THE FILTER ELEMENT IS A GOOD IDEA,...most have not thought it thru carefully, 90% of the guys use the standard disposiable filters with those thin synthetic or paper elements, the bye pass is there for a reason, and in my opinion its a good idea to leave it functional, when oil is cold or theres a rapid change in rpms the bye-pass tends to keep pressure spikes that result, from rupturing the filter element, a bit of unfilter oil momentarily is better than having an element rupture, or pull loose from its glued seams due to a pressure spike, resulting in a constant flow of partly unfiltered oil

http://people.msoe.edu/~yoderw/oilfilterstudy/oilfilterstudy.html
good link :thumbsup:
 
#22 ·
I run a higher volume pump and a blocked off bypass adapter for a 3 quart electric Canton accusump.

The draw back to higher pressure pumps is the additional load that they put on the distributor gear teeth.

This last weekend I did a 4-5 shift and had my foot on the floor and all went quiet. The gear teeth went with less than 30 hours on the motor.
 
#25 ·
my 383 pulls about 470 flywheel hp, or more, certainly much more when I use the nitrous (Ive changed the combo slightly about a dozen times)and its got over 80k on the short block and about 45k on the orriginal distrib gear, its got minimal wear, and 35k on the current distrib gear, (Ive had over a dozen cams in the combo)but I make sure the gears well cooled and lubed
keep in mind the combo was not built for max N/A hp, but decent street manors and responsive tq, and to take full use of nitrous

look at this picture:



The grouve is cut under the bottom (O)ring in the band just above the gear (look at the picture above, (BTW the pic shows a significantly smaller grouve than ideal)) and in line with the gears so that oil sprays on the gear contact points at all times, this is a mod most old time racers know about and use, but Im getting the idea the new guys have not picked up on it! (those two bands form the side of an oil passage in the block and the distributor shaft seals that passage, cutting the grouve sends a spray of high pressure oil onto the contact point at all times, if you dont cut the grouve your relieing on returning zero pressure oil flowing down the rear lifter gallery drain holes to lube the gears
BTW the other way to do this is to grouve the block in the distributors lower band area as this keeps the location of the oil jet constant as the distributor is turned, for a full contact spray on the gears so I generally do BOTH

heres My current 383 combo, (which Im currently refreshing for a spare)I built the engine SPECIFICALLY to run nitrious , but still be marginally easy to drive on the street, Its certainly NOT a race car but its fast enought to be marginally scary at times

splayed 4 bolt block,4.030 bore ARP studs
.020 copper head gaskets
6" cat 7/16" rod bolt (H) connecting rods
FORGED PISTONS 2016 alloy
SCAT 3.75" stroke FORGED internally ballanced ,4340 crank
CRANE 119661 roller cam & kit (better springs added)
air pump eliminator
jackson gear cam drive
smaller crank pullie
BBK 58mm throttle body
ERSON 1.6:1 BILLET roller rockers
TRICKFLOW twisted wedge heads (ported extensively)
STEALTH RAM (dirrect strait shot from back of valve to plenum)(ported and modified extensively)plus adjustable fuel pressure regulator
SFI 168 tooth flex plate
10 qt custom oil pan/high volume oil pump
windage screen/crank scraper /oil cooler
3000 rpm stall converter
gapless rings
36 LB injectors (soon to be 42 lb)
hooker 1 3/4" headers, 3" exhaust
HOLLEY http://www.holley.com/890-160.asp
taylor 10.4 mm wires
MDS ignition with manual retard dial
3.73:1 rear gears
aftermaket EFI fuel pump
larger fuel lines
trans cooler with powered fan
1.5"deeper aluminum trans pan
175 hp wet nitrous kit (EXTENSIVELY MODIFYED and re-jetted) similar to this



Im currently collecting parts to upgrade to a BBC in the vette, after running various combos/ components and testing over a dozen cams and almost that many intakes based on this basic 383 design
several 700r4 transmission, a couple rear suspension,
and more replaced U-joints , tires and brakes ETC. than you would believe
(being retired hurts the spare cash budget flow rates)
 
#27 ·
I had the same compression 383 as you have. I also originally ran the same cam from crane only in the solid roller version and it was always on the verge of detonation. California gas in 91.

I'm wondering if you fuel injection and lower flowing heads is the key to your detonation resistance. I also had the Swain tech thermal coated pistons. I eventually just got a 236/242 cam and it cured the problems
 
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