mardyn

The pump I ordered already has the pick up tube installed and welded for the stock pan.

I'm just gonna' have to trust that it's correct unless it's contacting the pan when I install it.

I'd think it couldn't be any worse than it was with the sump dented in by 3/4"...

mardyn

HeadsU.P.

I understand your thought on trusting the clearance. But, it only takes a second to hold the pan up into position for a test fit. Then you know for sure, before you prep your gasket.

Kacyc3

Dont forget to try to check out the timing chain see if it is a single or double row.

mardyn

Yes, I will do the test fit on the pick up to pan clearance before I do the final install... there's just not much I can do to adjust
it if it's too high or too low...

I looked but can't really see the timing chain... the front cover has it covered up pretty well.

I also was able to procure some plastigauge this morning to check my clearances on bearings...

No real progress will occur today as I'm about to head into DFW to pick up my wife at the airport... likely won't be back home 'til later this afternoon.

mardyn

derekderek

yeah, and when you get back from the airport, she won't wanna hear you are heading to the garage to cheat on her with the fiberglass mistress... you can get a good guesstimate of pick up tube height with a ruler hung down from pan rail. then compare to inside of pan to pan rail. remember gasket thickness.

7T1vette

Food for thought: Use the Plasti-Gage checks only for giving yourself confidence that the bearing clearances are in the right 'ballpark'. Plasti-Gage is not a perfect system...not nearly as good as detailed & accurate measurements. But, it is simple and can be used to validate that bearing clearances are not way out of whack. IMO, you can do as well by just looking at the condition of bearings which are in use. But, it can't hurt to check it that way, if you want.

mardyn

Update #2:

Had a chance to work on the project for a few hours yesterday beore the storms got here.

Removed & Checked #1 main bearing, bearing is in good condition with only minor wear, no signs of surface degradation
and plastigauge test indicates roughly .002 clearance. That's good enough for me.

Installed the new oil pump & pickup with new driveshaft & mounting stud.

Decided to order a new pan as my original had more damage than just the sump.
While repairable ,In addition to the dented sump, it was bent and creased near the drain plug
and the pan rails/bolts hole were distorted as well... plus it needed paint... New pan was only $53.00, so it was an easy choice.

Still having a problem identifying where my oil leak is coming from... it's around the fuel pump but access is so limited & tight,
I can't really determine the source.... it could be the right front valve cover gasket, but still difficult to see. I may have the remove
the A/C compressor to really see what's gong on there.

Stay tuned... and I appreciate y'all following along and all the great help and comments you've provided.

Oh yeah.... almost forgot... Crank bearings are .010" and timing chain appears to be standard issue (non-roller) replacement.

mardyn

7T1vette

Remove right-front wheel to gain access to the fuel pump....

TimAT

Down around the fuel pump, there are limited possible places for oil to leak- The block to the pump plate, the plate to the pump, the 3/8 bolt on the front of the block to lock the pushrod when changing the pump, and the pump itself. I've seen a few (NOT very many) leak a bit of oil from the diaphragm vent.
Next up would be the front of the intake or the rocker cover.

mardyn

No more real progress to report at this point... basically waiting on parts to arrive.

New pan finally got here (on Wed) but requires the "thick" seal vs. the new "thin" seal set that I have for
the original pan. Should arrive later today, but otherwise this whole week has been a wash so far.

I did check the pan to pick up clearance at 1/2" and final check and install of new oil pump and drive
shaft today. A few other routine maintenance items were addressed today as well.

Any thoughts on priming the oil system by spinning the motor with the [ign off] starter? (I don't want to remove the distributor)

Metal/Fab crew to start on our new patio cover in the morning, so I'll likely be around the garage all day... hope my parts get here
and maybe I can get this thing back together.

More to follow later.

mardyn

carriljc

mardyn
A couple of questions just out of curiosity:

What was the story on those 10 mm metric bolts?
and
Where did you get an oil pan for 53 bucks?

mardyn

New oil pan came from Jegs.... it's just a generic SBC pan... nothing fancy at all but I would not
purchase another one from them. Slow shipping and poor packaging resulted in a minor ding on the
side of the pan that I'll repair before installation.

Not sure on the 10mm oil pump bolts... I was surprised to find them, maybe an import piece (although it does say USA)
but not real sure.

mardyn

HeadsU.P.

H-m-m-m-m-m. Metric and dents means return for refund. I wouldn't put up with that crap. While you are waiting to ship it back, call Summit. You have one in Texas.

mardyn

New pump purchased from Summit Racing also has the 10mm bolts just as the other pump...

Little disappointed in Summit as well.. ordered new gaskets on Wed, still not here today (Friday) tracking show they've shipped from
Ohio warehouse WTF?? Arlington TX Warehouse is 75 miles from my location.

I guess Amazon Prime has spoiled me.

mardyn

7t9l82

Texas was out of stock is likely why it shipped from ohio. Last thing I ordered I believe came on a 20 mule team wagon. Amazon isn't great anymore either..good luck!

mardyn

Here's another update#3 for those of you following along:

I kinda got off track a little last week waiting for parts to arrive/stormy weather & tornadoes (N.E. Texas) to pass/ honey dos to be completed.

I repaired the ding in the new oil pan and it looks pretty good... almost undetectable now.
New oil pan stud kit and one piece Felpro gasket installed. Oil pan installation was ok
but I was very careful and did use some black RTV at the corners as recommended in the instructions from Felpro.

Also installed new Felpro valve cover gaskets, ARP stud kit was too short to use with thick gaskets and cast valve covers
so I just went back together with slightly longer bolts.

New Shell Rotella 15w40 oil and Wix filter, I unplugged the HEI power lead and primed the oil system by spinning the\
engine with the starter until I saw pressure on the manual external gauge... it took about 10 seconds to see movement on the gauge
as I had prefilled the filter before installation. Pressure showed about 40 psi pretty quickly.

Plugged the power back in to the HEI, tapped the key and off we went. Pressure at idle speed/cold engine was 65ish lbs on the external gauge
(which only reads to 60psi) and climbs with any rpm increase.

Ran it for about 5 minutes, all appears good so far but I now have to get the car back in the air, check for leaks and reinstall steering idler arm and
converter shield/cover...

As with any 46 y/o car, for every one thing I repaired, there were two more things that need repairs. Once the steering components are reinstalled and the
oil pan re-tightened and inspected, Some brake system maintenance is next, then the cooling system, then the A/C evap case clean out.. the BIG thing I see
is that my control arm bushings are aging out of service... while they're still in tact and centered, the rubber is cracking and somewhat brittle. Also my center cross
member is mangled on the bottom side and need some attention.

I hope to get going on the car again next week.... again, I appreciate all the comments and advice provided along the way.

mardyn

jackson

Seems you're back to normal
motor's rebuilt ... probably no more nylon-tooth cam sprocket.

4 bolt main's a plus ... is crank cast or forged? Did you look up into piston undersides? cast or forged?

I wouldn't sweat metric OP cover bolts ... so long as they were tight.

mardyn

Ya know... I did look at both the crank and pistons from below... but never thought to ID whether cast or forged.
My guess is they're standard cast stuff...

engine appears to be a "run of the mill" SBC with a conventional rebuild at some point along the way.
It was all relatively clean and fresh appearing but hard to ID how old/new the rebuild actually is as this engine was
in the car when I purchased it in 2014.

The standard timing chain (rather than a dual roller style) kinda' leads me to believe it's nothing really special.
In fact, I was shocked to find it had 4 bolt main caps.

I did try to read the engine pad stampings but they're very lightly stamped and hard to define the actual letters/number characters... so not much help there.

mardyn

mardyn

OK, it is now several weeks later (07/31/19) and here is an update for those following this thread:

First test drive with new pump/pan was this morning. Oil pressure is now much better with hot (195* tstat) idle at 20 psi,
55 psi at 2000 rpm and 60+ psi with additional rpm. All high and dry at the moment.

I did end up replacing the fuel pump and it appears that the mounting plate gasket between the pump and engine block
may have been the source of the leakage. A new Airtex fuel pump with updated internals cost about $30.00 from AMZ.

Also replaced the radiator, the upper control arm bushings, the dust boots on the upper ball joints, and many other minor issues
were corrected as I went through the process.... as I mentioned previously, for every one thing I repaired, I found two more items
that needed attention.

I'm happy to have my oil pressure issues resolved for now... next on the agenda is the A/C system. I'm going to delete the VIR
and move to a later design R134 based system that I hope will work better.

More details to follow at some point. Thanks for all the great comments and suggestions along the way.

mardyn

Jebbysan

Melling, Sealed Power, etc....pumps have had metric bolts in them for years, big deal. Your oil pressure was fine to start out with but good you replaced the pump. Hopefully you brazed the pick-up to the pump body.....this is an aeration point.
You can check pickup depth with a square, level and a 12" dial caliper and get the same results.......using clay when it is warm out just makes a mess......
Yes Summit ships from TX now but if they are out of stock on an item it defaults back to whatever warehouse has it........

Jebby