has anyone ever replaced the oil pump in there car with the motor still in? the way it looks is if i jack up the motor a bit out of the mounts i should have enough room to get the pan out am i right?ive been thinking of chaning the oil pump is my 86 camaro wiht the lg4 305. the car has 176,000 on it and im starting to see low oil pressure once the car is driven for a while. its reading around `12 pounds in gear on my autometer electric oil pressure guage and when i give it a lil gas it only goes up to 25 no higher. ive been runnign 1040 oil in it. this bothers me a bit its a little too low for my liking. before i condem the motor i wana stick a mechanical guage just to make sure the electric one isnt that far off. i just hope the pump can give me a lil more time before i have to rebuild it i was hoping it would last 200k . i was going to put in the melling z28 high pressure high volume pump in and ump drive shaft. does anyone think this would help the motor last a lil longer? too cold here on long island to be pulling any motors lol thanks

 

I did it in my 82Z it helps to remove the dist. cap so it dont break against the fire wall.

 

Bil88,

If you can raise the engine enough to remove the pan, you might as well pull the main and rod bearing caps and install new shells while you're there. You can get a set of stock shells for less than $40.00. Chances are that the pump itself is not the issue, but excess clearance is. The bad part is is you have an '86 or later (with a one-piece rear seal) you'll have to separate the transmission to drop the crank. If you install a set of stock bearing shells, a M55A pump with a new pickup ($30.00 total), and replace the gasket, you should improve you oil pressure and have less than $90.00 in the project. If you go through all the work of replacing the pump and don't touch the bearings, you'll probably kick yourself later for not doing so (like when you start it and the pressure is the same). You're that close, so there's really no excuse.

Wait for a little warmer weather if you need to. In the interim, try some 15W50 Mobil 1 instead of your 10W40 mineral oil. The synthetic will lubricate better, and maintain viscosity at higher temperature much better as well, temporarily alleviating the drop in pressure once the engine warms. Additionally, the engine should be a little cleaner when you open it up to replace the pump and bearings.

Just my 2¢

 

Thanks guys, thats all the info I need. Good suggestion, Vader.