What I CANNOT have happen, is have another chuck of something stop my engine dead cold the way it happened this time.
I'm installing supermagnets into the pan, so they should help pick up anything that might be left in the motor, and the screen mesh is small enough that the offending roller pins cannot make their way through and cause this issue again.
I also plan on dropping the oil weight from 20-50 to 10-40, which should help if the screen does restrict the oil pickup. My oil pressures were very high anyways, so I think the drop in oil weight will be tolerated).
I know also that hot oil is much thinner, and once hot I really don't think I'll have any flow issues with the finer screen, so a good warmup of the oil will be part of my startup procedure (it actually always has been. I know it takes a good 10 minutes for the oil to get hot in any engine).
I'm doing what I can with what I have, until I can deal with this and go through the engine and gearbox properly. I should have enough saved by next year to do those things.
It would have been really nice to have been told about the rocker failure before I bought the car. I was told the engine never had any issues, had low miles (like 5000-6000 miles) and was strong and should last with proper maintenance.
I was fully prepared to do normal maintenance, valve adjustments, oil changes, occasional repairs on parts that fail on a 40-plus year old car (like going through the entire wiring system when I got the car home, because basically nothing worked, no blinkers, no taillights, one headlight, no backup lights, tach only working occasionally) all those things were fun to fix, and what I expected.
Having the motor die after an oil change, and then to find out about a previous rocker failure that sent steel bits all through the engine, THAT, I should have been told about IMO.
I have things cleaned up, the bits are gone, magnets in place, smaller mesh screen in place, the car is ready to reinstall the new oil pump and pan and finish all the other things that need to be done to get the car back running (bolt-in crossmember, new water hoses, distributor pin fixed AGAIN and reinstalled, plugs installed after oil pressure is confirmed, plug wires put back, valve covers installed, air cleaners installed, chrome side covers installed, seats and firewall installed, and much more). It's a huge job. Not what I had planned on when I dropped my life savings on the car.
quote:Originally posted by No Quarter:quote:finer mesh screen on the pickup
Sorry Mike if I'm contributing to your concerns, but is this mesh a standard thing? The mesh if too fine may restrict oil entering so you may lose pressure at high rpm?
I don't know, just guessing, I wouldn't dare do that. Have others done that and lived happily with it?