I bought a new GM crate motor from Jim Pace Ponitac warehouse and installed it in my camaro and it has 10 psi of oil pressure. it is a 350 long block replacement engine for the camaro in 1991. I had a mecahnical gauge hooked up to it to make sure my gauge wasnt broke and when i pulled the oil pressure switch to hook the gauge up, i could see metallic shavings in the oil that came out of the hole. this engine has no less then 20 minutes run time on it. I did everything you are suppose to do to an engine after you start it. it does not knock at all but i did notice smoke coming from the PCV valve as soon as it started for the first time. It went away about 5 minuted later. The dealer will not pay for labor to repair my motor. All they will cover is parts. This is NOT what they told me when i bought it either. Now I am going to eat $2,000 because I am not paying a mechanic over $1,000 to pull the entire engine apart to find a problem. I am now shopping for a new motor. sucks doesnt it. :

 

dude, rebuild one your self.

 

im not super sure but i believe there is a plug above the rear main seal that must be in place for your engine to have sufficint oil pressure... Maybe yours isnt there, it does happen. When you first start a moter, there will be a little of blow by before every thing breaks in. As for teh metal shavings(if their really small specks), I believe that is probably normal as all the parts establish wear patters.

 

this plug you are referning too, can i see it or feel it from under the hood. or is is something that must be loked at with the trans out. the oil pressure gauge was bouncing from 0 to 10 and 20 on cold start up. it wont stay in one place

 

check out this tech article. It should answer your question. Click on the sbc oil crisis link.

 

Ya but i bought a long block set up with heads and oil pan already on. i think that oil plug is not there on just bare blocks bought from GM. I did email SDPC about my problem.

 

i agree is should be there too but ive heard of it hapining to someone... anyhow, good luck getting things straightened out.

 

That plug is under the oil pressure sender. The one in the 350 in my garage is 8.5" from the top of the block . I used a dipstick to
check the depth .

 

I just bought some Vortec heads from Jim Pace. I bought the ones predrilled for pre '87 intakes. After further research I come to find out that my manifold won't line up correctly and my cam is too big. So now I have to have screw in studs put in and new springs and guide plates. They told me the max lift is .488 and my cam is .480 .008 isn't much room for error. I feel I got screwed from Pace. Oh ya, I also need special head and intake gaskets.
For the money I'm gonna have to invest in these I could have just bought some AFR's. I always get f**ked. Learn the hard way (always) I guess. That really sucks about your motor. All that work and it has no oil pressure. When I rebuilt my motor, I didn't have shavings coming out of it. No smoke whatsoever and oil pressure was and still is 50+ psi from day one. I don't think I'll be buying anything from them again.

Brad...