Posted by Tom in Indiana [172.69.90.49] on Saturday, July 06, 2019 at 18:02:44 :
In Reply to: Zero oil pressure at idle posted by John Malone [172.68.38.61] on Saturday, July 06, 2019 at 12:11:44 :
The first thing I would do is toss the small pickup tube screen- that is entirely too small. The stock LA screen was over four times that size, and oil had fewer passages to travel through (they didn’t oil through through the pushrods). To go from less than 10psi at 700rpm (ish) to 40 at 2000rpm is a drastic jump, and sounds like a plug was left out somewhere- did you check the rear oil galley plugs, also? Also, a fresh LA/Magnum with good clearances (.002”-.0025” on rods and mains) and an HV oil pump should hold 40-65psi at idle cold, and 30-55psi at full operating temperature. Both of the 360 LAs I built and installed recently hold 65psi at idle/75psi at 3000rpm cold, and 45-60psi warm at those same rpms. It could be cam bearings installed wrong, also- does it have full-grooved ones? Did you use a gasket with the oil pump? DON’T. I will only use WIX oil filters on Mopar small blocks, and if you have a Fram on it now, take it off, shoot it with a shotgun, set it on fire, then throw it in the trash- they are notorious for collapsing on Mopars, and with the tiny pickup tube surface area you have installed, I’m surprised the filter hasn’t crunched itself visibly. Make sure you also don’t have a pushrod popper off somewhere, as well.
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