as many of you know i've been working on this 91 for about a year now. Here is what i've got currently and need some confirmation of my thinking.

I've changed the injectors, regulator, fuel rail, and lines to solve the whole gas in the oil problem it was having.

Since then i've changed the oil, sending unit, filter, push rods and rockers. Everything has been adjusted and completed thus far with the top end and has been checked by several mechanics and what not.

NOW with all that information above here's my prob... I'm getting NO top end oiling ..... Now i did not rebuild this lower end of the motor due to it being done before me. Thusly i cant comment on whats new inside her. I have been able to confirm Lunati Hydrolic roller lifters and speed pro flat top pistons during the valve spring replacement. Funny thing is my guage inside the car is reading proper oil pressure but with the valve covers off and the engine running you can clearly see no oil making its way up.

My line of thinking on this subject is that the oil pump is bad due to having a mixture of gas and oil sitting in the pan for an extended period of time... Also I've noticed gasket sealer around the oil pan so i know that needs to be redone properly.... Anyways back on topic... i've read around some of the past threads by members and noticed that Cam placement may have something to do with why my top end isn't getting its life blood... Is this correct?

My overall question i guess is .... Pull the Motor or Replace the pump and see where i stand?

 

check these. but just for thought. yes the engine needs to come out.

http://www.cartechbooks.com/vstore/s...6&chapter=7587

http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/sh...hp?tid/192284/

oh yeay is the engine running or just using the tool.

 

the engine does run on its own but no oil to the top end... You think changing out the pump could be the prob or do you think that some of those passageways are plugged up with debris? I'm really not wanting to pull this stinking motor out of this car.. I mean if I'm going to do that i may as well just rebuild the damn thing or go with an LS swap...... I guess i'll see the overall consensus and go from there... I'm really leaning towards changing the pump and seeing where i stand... although the cam bearings may not have been installed properly... don't know though... but if i remember correctly the top end use to oil up but not alot back when i first set the stock rocker arms after the valve spring swap...

 

DAMMIT Lance i still haven't driven this car yet... errrgh

 

At idle, after a car has been sitting, the motor might not have that much oil pumping through everything yet, how long have you ran the motor?

 

its sat for about a month and ran it today bout 2 minutes if that but even still the push rods should have some oil in them and i've run the car before since i set the rockers before and they were bone dry still...

 

I suppose i could pull the dizzy and pump up the oil with the priming tool... My worry is the slight low end knock i'm getting now... Looking at my possibilites currently.... you a 383 tpi would be pretty cool? I know your going to say LS1 but i'm not ready for that just yet but always wanted a stroker motor...

 

Screw a LS1, 6.0 and bigger is where it is at, LOL.

My stock 6.0 with a cam traps 95 in the 1/8t mile, so, that should be enough, LOL.

I cheated and went carbed though, cost lett and the Vic Jr carbed intake biitch slaps the expensive EFI intakes.

 

make sure the distributor is seated 100%, when i did my cam swap i didn't have it stabbed all the way at first and the car would start and run but wouldn't build oil pressure. just a thought.

 

Ditto what blue85305 said...

I would also suggest manually priming it before making any assumption.
VERY big possibility

Hmm, good oil pressure but no visible flow and lower end knock.
A cracked or badly seated ring could cause this.

 

dove into the problem head first today and run smack into a brick frickin wall...

Distributor was stabbed properly for starters..

I hooked up a manual guage from the back engine port and started the car which read out 40 psi. That elliminated the oil pump right there so...

after looking at an engine oiling diagram the lifters were the next thing in line. Pulled off all my nice pretty neat and polished alluminum down to the long block and took out a lifter to check... Damn thing was SEIZED.... Started checking them all one by one and found every one of them was either bad or on its way out... They all showed signs of pitting due to rust from being outside too long, Dirt along the outside of the bearings, and to top it off didn't sit snug in the hole. My guess is that they were the original roller lifters that were in the car when this motor was rebuilt due to the wear i wouldv'e expected them to come out of a motor with 145000 miles on it...

I've bought new lifters for her and they are currently taking thier over night oil bath. With any luck tomorrow i can get them all set back up and have this thing running by weds. <--- gotta let the gaskets set over night.

 

Glad to hear you found the problem. Make sure them pushrods are still all straight!

 

we shall see today it should go back together hopefully... fingers crossed.

 

Worked on her again this last night replacing all 16 of the Hydr roller lifters and yes they were all bad. Turned the motor over and set each rocker arm after changing each lifter... one cylinder at a time. Now today i will run by my bro's house and pick up the oil priming tool again and confirm that i get oil up to the top end. I have no doubt in my mind thats what it was.

... and i found out why i had gas in my oil. Two 3" leaks from the intake manifold gaskets, one on each side.... This was caused by the improper length of intake manifold bolts which i must claim credit for, oops, and i'm guessing not properly seated gaskets.... Oh well on the way back from getting the tool i need i'm stopping at the local stainless steel supplier and getting the right bolts. If anyone needs some stainless intake bolts i'm buying a bag of them... lol

 

Hoe you have it right man. I know it can be a PITA some times.

 

setting up for a compression test tomorrow just to make 100 percent sure i'm good or still may have to pull this motor.

 

I hope it's all good.
Am really looking forward to seeing your car in my rear view mirror...

 

right before i pass your a$$

 

Calm down before ya'll old men break a hip

 

LOL, indeed, especially me with a weak tranny. I seen his car and some of
his work, it appears pretty damn solid. Toke his time and found this oiling
problem, but am still gonna ribb him a little... heh

 

Engine currently being reassembled.. should be ready by Sat night.... hit a small snag though... seems one of my water ports on the intake is pretty bad off so i'm gunna have to remake that port with some alluminum welding...

hopefully should still have her together enough to take it down to my buddies lift and helicoil my tranny pan and check out the rest of the drive train. Then i can change gears to the good stuff like finishing my stereo build and all the little prob i have elsewhere that are not as high as a priority. Still haven't figured out the cooling fans issues....

Oh I did a compression test. little concerned about 5 & 6 but i think the rings havent set yet since this motor still really isnt broken in... Either that or the machine shop missed the proper bore... making my motor sound likes its missing which solves that prob. Thought it was electrical... results are as follows...

1-210 2-211
3-207 4-209
5-190 6-190
7-204 8-202

 

ok so my problem still isn't solved yet like we had thought.

Reassembled the whole motor today after patching the intake port that was messed up. Torqued everything back into spec and remade all electrical connections. Finally fired her up and read the temp oil guage i got on her which gave me a reading of 45 psi. This was higher than before i replaced lifters so i was optomistic, but when i looked in the valve cover guess what?.... no frickin oil coming up with the motor running... Highly upset about that lil tid bit ... A buddy of mine is going to call west side performance to ask him whats the deal with this thing but my guess is something went wrong with the installation of the cam which i didn't do. On the positive side the valvetrain sounds perfectly set.. no taps, knocks, or other noises and to me sounds like she is purring...

My thought is now this... if i have to pull this motor i might as well rebuild it correctly so that i know there's no issue anywhere... However i'm going to have a machine shop check the bore on the motor to ensure that it was bored out like previously stated by the former owner. I will also check the cam, crank, connecting rods, and pistons to ensure they are what was said they are.... After all this is connfirmed i'm junking the crank, connecting rods, and maybe the pistons. I will then purchase new connecting rods and a stroker crank to turn this baby into a 383 stroker tpi.... I wonder what kind of horse power it will make anyone have a clue...

 

drawing a blank still on this one and could use some help....

pulled the valve cover today and looked down into the intake after running the motor for about two minutes... I didn't see any oil covering the lifters in the oil valley... i'm thinking i'm getting no oil up past the cam shaft... I know i have it at the distributor where it meets the cam shaft because of the oil covering the end of the ditributor and i have a mech gauge run into the port next to the distributor which reads about 45 psi with the motor running....

couple mechanics i spoke to were talking about oil galley plugs in the front of the motor might be missing and causing this problem because its not building the right amount of pressure in the oil gallies...

Also told that if the cam shaft rear bearing was installed incorrectly it still wouldn't cause this prob.

Ugh more and more its looking like i'm gunna half to pull this motor to correctly build the lower end... thing is she sounds frickin perfect... no knocking and the lifters don't tap or anything just no oil up to the rockers.... honestly its starting to **** me off...

 

I would have done ran the shiit out of it and see if it blows, i dont have patience for that ****.

 

primed up the motor for about 5 minutes and finally cranked up oil throughout the whole block and out the rockers. Reset the rockers and got no other problems... easy breezy... moving on from the motor finally and onto the rest of the drivetrain....