Reply to "Is this screen too fine of mesh? Opinions?"

Screen is rated by the percentage of flow vs surface area.

That screen is somewhere in the 10% flow vs. surface area, vs about 95% flow in the original screen.

I don't know what the minimal flow to the oil pump should be and I seriously doubt anyone else does either?

I have NEVER seen ANY numbers or studies published on that.



I agree with examining the oil filter you have in there now AND the one that you took out just before that happened.

The pump is before the filter so as it turns out that would tell you what got through the system into the oiling passages. IF ANY, but you would need to show that the metal fragments perforated that filter and went through it into the rest of the system.

The likeliness of that is almost non-existent BUT because of the potential for a disaster you need to be 100% positive scientifically that never happened.


The oil pump and the oil pickup are the "sacrificial" components in this system. You have already discovered why.


The intake manifold HAS TO COME OFF to examine the lifter gallery. It may tell you more?

Visual examination of the lifters and cam lobes are probably sufficient to confirm that there is no lifter or camshaft lobe damage or debris.

The roller pins would have largely been isolated in the cylinder head.

ONE PIECE got through. Considering it's size, that's understandable.


If you can positively identify the piece that you found in the pump as being part of a roller assembly, then you are good to go.

Put the new pump in, your guess on the screen? I would be concerned there though that the medicine is stronger than the disease is?

The oil pump is going to create quite a load on that screen. I would be concerned that eventually it is going to get deformed from that and in addition go back to loading the drive pin in the distributor because of the additional load put on the drive shaft by the higher resisting screen.

It might be best to seek out other solutions to that at the moment?

Call Aviad tomorrow. Explain what the issue is and see if they can advise you on the pickup solution to your issue.

Go with what THEY say. DO NOT GUESS on this.


Failure of roller bearing rocker arms is nothing new.

I would look at the brand that is in there, then maybe consider something like the CompCams ULTRA series?

Many of these roller rocker arms are being built from "off shore components" but assembled here.

The durability of "chinese" bearings has been questioned and should be.

We have many "pencil neck" engineers specking components off of specification charts with no hands on actual knowledge of the components.

Many have quite high "resume credentials" but few have actual "hand to hand combat experiences". These are the types that sit back in a command center and just direct.

These are always the guys that pile on the casualties. They should be avoided at all costs.



There is also a magnet that sits in a cup that you place on the bottom of the oil filter. It is molded to the oil FL-1 filter. You want one of those also. As a matter of fact this would be a good time to consider going to a dual remote oil filter system and put one of those on each filter.

You could also easily plumb in additional screens into a remote system as well. It's something you should seriously consider at this point.

http://www.anplumbing.com/Acce...s/Oil+Filter-56.html



You are also going to need to decide which oil filter to use. Many, including me, are using "racing" filters. They are not as fine a screen but flow more oil and are rated at higher burst pressures. Usually they are fine if you change the oil a lot like in a race car.

These will help also. Lots of types of screens around for obvious reasons.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Moroso...em5d54e1c620&vxp=mtr

That's also another point. Treat this engine just like you would a race engine. Lots of oil changes, lots of pulling off of the valve covers to check the valve train.



The only way that you could protect the oil pump from sucking up debris is to go to a dry sump system where the pumps are outside of the pan and there is a screened external in line filter before them.

That is a benefit to that system BUT fitting a dry sump system into a Pantera is very, very difficult. There is no where to put the oil tank. The pumps are belt driven off of the crankshaft and there is no room for that in the firewall. The lines are -12 and -16 and you can't bend them easily and the Pantera chassis gets in the way of the plumbing. It's a very daunting task to persue BUT a POSSIBILITY.

It has been done but it's a monster to do.