Bronze flake in oil?

[not so famous bob]

You want no more than .010. That gives ya .005 for and aft.

we used to strive for .06-.08 on the hemi, my 505 has a tite .006, all I could get.

 

[dvw]

If it hasn't lost any pressure my bet is the rod and main vertical clearance hasn't changed. That leaves thrust and distributor bushing as probable sources. Set up a dial indictor on the balancer and measure crank endplay. Pull the distributor and oil pump drive to look at the bushing. Something would really have to be messed up to create that much valve guide material. My bet is you would've seen bigger issues already.
Doug

 

[moper]

Something would really have to be messed up to create that much valve guide material. My bet is you would've seen bigger issues already.
Doug

Yup.
I had a customer's 408 I did that developed an oil leak when the brand new balancer slipped it's outer ring into the timing cover in a few hundred miles. After addressing the issue with the owner, had everything shipped to him, and he replaced the parts. He called and said everything's great but the oil pressure went down 5psi at idle. Fine once it comes up in rpm. I said pulled the engine and gave him a 360 to use until it was fixed. The thrust bearing and crank's thrust surface was wiped but nothing was easilly visible in the oil because of the assembly lube still present in the crankcase. Point being - if the oil pressure has been fine and hasn't changed, you're probably fine.

 

[Zeppelin264]

Good new! Old bronze bushing had no oil groove. Got it out and looks like .009 or so slop. Shaft was a little worn but only .001. New bushing has .003 clearance. So I'm pretty sure that was it and is in spec! Gonna change the filter after a little run time and should be good to go.

 

[moper]

Great news.