I am in the middle of changing my oil pressure regulator and have run into a small problem. The oil pan is off, the front regulator is shimmed and torqued back in place and the original main regulator is laying on the garage floor.



My problems started when I tried to put in the new pressure regulator (FD model). The rear rotor housing gives almost no clearance. There is only a few degrees of rotation of the regulator that will allow my 26mm wrench to fit on it. Luckily the stock one was in a position that allowed me to break it loose (when it was installed there was not a rear rotor housing attached so clearance was not an issue). The new regulator snugs up in a position that does not allow my wrench to fit on it. I put a small amount of blue locktite on it have tightened it up with a pair of pliers. (probably to around 10ft.lbs of tq.) But I don't feel I have it tight enough.



I don't believe anyone makes a thin enough socket in that size to fit (only a few mm clearance between the corner of the hex shape and the rear rotor housing). I feel I have only a few options.



1. Leave it and hope it is tight enough and the locktite holds.

2. Go buy a cheap wrench and grind it down to give more clearance (and/or grind a bit off the oil pan mounting lip to give more clearance)

3. Find a washer to fit it and hope it snugs up in a position that my wrench can grab it.

4. Go back in time and build the motor right in the first place.



1 is risky, 2 is time consuming, 3, could be a complete waste of time, 4 that whole space time continum is tricky.



Any suggestions on how to tighten it?

 

do NOT leave it as is its suposed to be tightened to 80 ft lbs if i am not wrong, i know for a fact craftsman short socket fits there with their wrench, it stight but it fits, teh rathenig kind that is

 

This would explaing why you never called me. Mine still won't start. I gave up for now. Have gone to Lewis's to work on Alan's engine. I did buy a tow strap incase my brother can help me this afternoon.



Lewis had to grind on a wrench to make it fit. Thats what he used on my engine. I'd buy the shorty that kahren mentioned or modify one.

 

Grrrr... Mission Accomplished but deemed a complete failure!



I went to Sears and bought a standard 26 mm socket and Kahren was correct it would fit even though the clearance between the regulator and the rear housing is tight. I torqued it down, cleaned the oil pan up applied the gasket in a tube and bolted everything up. The Permatex blue I used said it cured in 24 hours. I pushed the car out side and let it sit overnight.



Today when I got back from helping MPM get his car started I put oil in and started it up. Within seconds I had 60psi of pressure (at ~3000 rpm) I was excited that I had fixed my oil problem. The RPMs dropped to around 900 and the oil pressure settled to around 35. Everything was great until the engine got up to full temperature. My oil pressure slowly dropped to around 10psi. I could rev it up and see as much as 60+ on the gauge but at idle for a few minutes and I would have only around 10.



Is it possible that my oil cooler is clogged up and when the bypass opens up it is so restrictive that it robs all of my pressure?



I suppose my problems go back to my engine build. Because of a tight budget I decided to use the old oil pump. Even though it speced out to tighter clearance than suggested in the Turrentine Video a new one would of been stronger. And I also should not of done the oil jet modifications. When I decided to do that I had not read about any oil pressure problems as a result of that mod from any other forum members.



I am NOT going to pull this motor just to replace the oil pump unless it completely quits and I am definately not pulling the motor apart just to replace the oil jets with stock ball and springs.



Hrm.. I suppose I will start using a heavier weight of oil and possibly have the oil cooler flushed out.

 

you wouldn't have to pull engine to replace oilpump would you? was the chain in spec?

 

I think Carmon is cursed. My new engine is reading low oil pressure also. But, thats on the factory guage. My car has sit for a number of years and the new engine showed great oil pressure on the test stand.



Big thanks to Carmon again for helping me get my car started.

 

Have you tried replacing the stock oil pressure sending unit? This may be giving you guys a false reading on your stock guages, that is of course assuming that you're using the stock guage.

 

Well, for one, why did you think adding a higher rate OPR would help with oil pressure at idle? The OPR is very similar to a ball-and-spring boost controller: it bleeds off just enough oil back into the oil pan to maintain a certain pressure level. It does this through spring pressure.

So.... adding a higher rate OPR would simply change the spring coefficient, and when the oil is bled off.



So, for any oil pressure below the OPR rating, two things basically govern oil pressure: volume pumped into the oiling system via the oil pump and volume drained through the system (through bearings, jets, etc) at that pump flow volume.



So... you still have the same pump, so the same flow in, and you haven't changed any of the flow losses...



To get your oil pressure up, you need to increase flow in, or decrease flow out. Flow in would be via a higher flow oil pump. Flow out would require smaller oil jets and tighter bearing clearancing.



Now.... the main problem here is the oil jetting mod. I don't understand why anyone would perform this with the stock oil pump nor is it a mod for street engines. The stock oil jets work the same way as the OPR, not jetting any oil into the rotors until the oil volume (and thus pressure) come up. putting in jets just allows them to spray oil into the rotors all the time.



It is likely not a worn stock pump that is your problem; I doubt a replacement stock pump will fix this for you. Your best bet is going to be to take off your front cover and replace your oil pump with a higher flow version; I believe atkins sells one for around $125.



Now, this has all been summed up in very basic terms. You should also evaluate flow losses through the oil system via the pressure drops through the oil cooler, oil cooler lines, the horribly-flowing stock banjo bolts, etc. but at these flow volumes and pressures, gains from changing out these parts would be minimalistic.

 

Removing the ***** and springs leaves two additional leaks at idle that were not there before. So if nothing else was changed, the oil pressure at idle should have been reduced.



The bearings are huge. With the oil hot, even 10 PSI is a large quantity of oil. There is virtually no load at idle, so there will be no damage.



The additional leak is at the very end of the oiling system, so there is no need to suspect anything else as the cause. Plugged cooler, failing pump etc.



I have an external (Peterson) pump and run 95 PSI. At full tilt (Above 9,000 RPM)the oil pressure drops off a bit, down to 90 PSI. The centrfugal load on the columns of oil in crank are resisting oil trying to flow into the crank, and the oil that does make it inside is assisted in exiting both into the bearings and through the fixed spray jets. I use

.140MM Weber main jets.



You could remove the crank and replace the ***** and springs.

You could change to a higher viscosity oil.

You could replace the stock pump with a pump with a higher displacement.

You could convert to an external pump with a higher displacement.

You could do all of the above.

Or, you could stop thinking about it. I won't hurt anything but your sleep.



Lynn E. Hanover



lehanover@aol.com



Lynn E. Hanover

 

The oil jet mod is your low pressure problem. If youre that worried about it, get a TII oil pump if you dont already. On a n/a, yu will see a nice increase in volume and pressure with the TII oil pump, and it may be enough to raise your oil pressure back to 30 psi.



When my engine was freshly rebuilt, I saw 60 psi at idle, and 100-110 by 2500 rpm. Now that the bearings have worn in, I see 40-55 psi at idle, depending on oil temp, and 110 by 3000-3500. I have a TII oil pump, FD rear regulator, type 2 main bearings, and I modified the stock jets for more flow, but kept the ball and spring. But at the pressure my oil system stays at, the oil jets are nearly always open.