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440 Oil Pump- Good Grief

BMosely

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Location
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New build with 100% done in the yard except shopped a crate motor due to time constraints. Winter went fine, but just real unhappy with oil pressure dipping down towards 6 psi on a soaked hot idle. Went ahead and got a new 63HP pump and found this on removal of the crate pump. I know it won’t help the idle pressure, but damn I paid a lot for this motor to find this.

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Besides the gasket being up-side-down, was the "O"-ring installed on the shaft? I can't tell from the photos?
If the "O"-ring is missing, the pump will try sucking air on the pickup side of the pump.
 
Oring good, gasket backwards blocking +/-30%. Yea, e-mail going in the morning.
On the bright side. Even sitting, there is fire in the heart of a Mopar.

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Good luck but I doubt that is the cause of your 6 psi oil pressure.
 
Who's the "crate" supplier? Last I heard, nobody did "crate" 440's out there...
Whoever did that one looks like they didn't even bother to disassemble and clean
the housing.
 
What oil viscosity is in use, and do you have any build specs on bearing clearances?
This low oil pressure has been since you got the engine running?
 
The FSM recommends and shows how to check clearances of the rotor and top plate. Im suspicious of 6psi even with the gasket installed wrong. I would think that would affect volume not pressure.
 
The FSM recommends and shows how to check clearances of the rotor and top plate.
Indeed, pump could be worn out or pick up tube is loose/cracked.
Less volume is less pressure, with only 6psi (pressure) there is a lot of oil flowing out quickly (volume). The pump provides slightly more than the leak off.
Though I also don't think the wrong installed gasket would cause this.
Pump/pickup issues or a bearing issue?
 
Are the galley plugs installed behind the timing chain? That will lead to very low oil pressure as well. Since you have your oil pump removed, take a look at the oil pressure relief valve as well. Make sure it's good and the bore is clean and free of any issues.
 
.....I know it won’t help the idle pressure, but damn I paid a lot for this motor to find this.
If the relief stuck open while cold it "could" result in low hot pressure.
 
Running 15w-40. Cold start hits 70 psi.
I already checked the bypass valve and it was good. You can actually get to it thru the oil filter hole.
I pulled the pump with a new one in hand to install. I will drive tonight for verification but idling last night dropped to 10psi so I am assuming no change.
 
Maybe open up that old filter and see what's in it.
What's the water temp running?
 
Did they put new cam bearings in? Sometimes low hot idle pressure can be worn cam bearings. Also, one time a parts supplier gave me the wrong lifter for one I was replacing. I didn't notice the mistake and installed it. The 383 had hardly any oil pressure at idle, but would increase as the engine revved up. Admittedly, a pretty freak thing.
 
Updates, yes. Good news, no.
Close monitoring showed that the warm pressures were not even acceptable. It Dropped to 25 psi max running. As painful as the decision was, I pulled the eject handle. Notified the builder that I was chasing warranty, pulled the motor, and hand delivered it to their shop. Funny timing as it is due back in here this week after now being down 4 months. I could not get any good details from the builder other than the crank was trashed and it was a complete rework. Hoping for the best here as obviously my confidence in round 2 is somewhat less than the first pass. I am giving them the benefit as they stood by their work but if this effort goes south I will be calling them out for other members to be in the loop.
 
Sad to hear it resulted in a rework.
I believe you should give the shop a chance to rectify it before calling them out, everyone makes mistakes and should have a 2nd chance to get it right.
Do they have a dyno to do an extended test run?
If so, you can get an agreement to witness a 20-30 minute test run with some load and monitor the parameters to ensure it's all good before taking it home.

Hope you get it sorted out with the builder and have a good engine back soonest.
 
We are back in action. Dropped in last weekend and buttoned everything up today. No Dyno on the second pass from the builder so we broke the cam in for the 30 minute cycle. I think my son forgot what his 440 with open pipes sounds like. Heat was good, oil pressure good, and amazingly not a single leak from anything. We are still running iron heads and the wet header bolts gave me a ton of grief last time. Best advise on a new build start is #1 timing to 10* BTDC. That put it right on the money.
 
Good to hear you're back in business!
Now time to enjoy the car and put some miles on it! :thumbsup:
 
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