Lost oil pressure in a fresh build

[jeepsr4ever]

Yes assembly must be dry

[TKFireman]

Thanks. That may have been the original problem. When I assembled the engine I used high tack gasket sealant on it. That may have messed up the clearances and caused excessive wear on the oil filter adapter assembly.

[tufcj]

Sealer would have made the clearances looser than expected. That shouldn't have caused wear on the filter adapter. The clearance specs for the oil pump are in any TSM that covers a V-8. I can dig mine out and scan the pages if needed.

Bob
tufcj

[TKFireman]

I'll check my Haynes manual when the parts come in, thanks.

[TKFireman]

Got my order from Bulltear in today and had some time to tinker on it this afternoon. I installed the oil filter bypass plug, cleaned everything up and installed the oil filter housing using the steel mid plate and the .007 gasket. I thought I had some plastigauge but did not, installed it anyway and it became clear very quickly that the .007 gasket was too thin, tried to turn the pump from the top of the engine, was obviously way too tight. I took it back apart and installed the stock gasket, pump turned freely, must be the size gasket I need.

I also mig welded two 1/4" nuts to the bottom of the pick-up, they have a thickness of about 7/32" so I am guaranteed to have almost 1/4" of clearance between the pick-up and oil pan. I need to pick up some more sealant before I re-install the pan, will hopefully get that done on Thursday and try it out, but honestly I'm not very hopeful that this will fix my problem, but want to try every in-expensive option before I go to expensive options.

[TKFireman]

Put the oil pan on this morning, oil filter and filled with oil, hooked up the drill to prime the oil, and got 5 psi. I'm going to re-install the .007 thin oil pump gasket and see what happens even though I'm a little concerned about it putting undo stress on the cam and dizzy gears. But at least I'll see if it boosts the oil pressure to a reasonable amount.

[TKFireman]

I put the .007 gasket in. I got about 8 psi on the drill and I can not turn the pump from the top of the engine with a screwdriver because the clearances are so tight.

So now I have ensured that the gauge is not the problem, ensured that the pick-up is not sucking to the pan, re-did the pump with a steel midplate, thin gasket, oil filter bypass plug, so I'm thinking in has to be inside the engine, I reckon I'll pull the timing cover and check the galley plugs there and under the intake, unless someone has and other suggestions for me.

[rollbar]

What does this mid-plate look like?

Is it the gasket between the pump & block?

Thanks,
Jim

[TKFireman]

It looks like this http://www.bulltear.com/catalog/prod...roducts_id=217 It goes between the oil pump cover and the timing cover, lets the gears ride against a piece of steel instead of aluminum for less wear. You use 2 paper gaskets and the steel midplate which is similar to the gaskets, but made of steel

[rollbar]

Thank you,
Jim