News about my Engine problems

[RICK LAKE]

cobra 53 Rico Before I give my 2 cents on your motor problems, would like to ask you a couple of questions about what you do with your car. Are you racing it? This sound like a solid lifter motor? What is the camshaft max lift? What is the rocker ratio? Do you have .080"-.100" clear valve spring bind? Max rpms you have done? Do you have a rev limiter in the car for the ignition? Is there any marks under the rocker arms where the valve spring retainer make have hit the rocker? This is a good start for your problems.

Now for my 2 cents and 35+ years of motor building and racing.
As far as oil pumps in my motors, all run a HV setup. As far as oil pressure in my motors that are FE, I am running between 70-85 psi hot with a 15-40 Rotella oil that is warned up before running hard. IMP you can not have enough oil pressure and volume in ANY motor. I am still waiting for my first blown motor from high oil pressure. If you are streeting the car with a cooler and extra large oil pan the only thing to worry about is not getting the oil to the correct temp where it does the most protection of the motor. The most damage to ANY motor is during cranking to start the motorwhen it has no or little oil on the bearing surfaces. I have a 3 quart accusump for per oiling. This gives me 35 psi before cranking the motor. Same block and 2 different motor builds going from a 452 to 482 stroker and no failures. Cold oil presure on startup is 130 psi. This runs off the distributor and camshaft. There is a .015" oriface to spray oil directly on the gears of the distributor and camshaft.

Your problem I see. The bronze gear is for solid roller camshafts. As others have said, it will wear out in as little as 2,500 miles. Someone gave you poor info on installing of this gear. You want a gear to match the camshaft. Should be iron or a poly gear. There is a thread in CC about which gear to run with which camshaft. If your motor is out of the car, look behind the location of the distributor and see if there is an oil channel in the block. If so you may want to add a small spray oil of .010" to help lube the gears and not have them rely on splash from motor or drain back.
I see no problem with running an HVHP oil pump. Make sure the oil pump drive is a harden shaft. Give the motor a couple of minutes to warn the oil before moving. At 2,500 rpms I want to see a 60- 75 psi range. Once a year check the gear for wear. Camshaft end play, How much is there?? You don't want the camshaft to be sliding more than .010". They sell a torrrington bearing kit for most motor and a correct spec for camshaft end play. Too much play will also per wear out a distributor gear. Steel, iron or bronze. If you are racing and looking for every last HP you can run a stock oil pump and the motor will live for a couple of years. These motors have short lives and are rebuilt every year. Some guys never race there cars and stock does work. It depends on how deep your pockets are. Recheck this.
Valve spring, ?? I have seen them break. Most times it's from miss shifting at high rpms, coil bind, or rocker hitting retain of spring. There have been some bad batches of springs. This has been from poor steel materials. If 1 valve spring is broken, I would replace them all and recheck specs and clearances.
If you are running a solid lifter motor, DON'T allow it to idle. The oil pressure is low at idle and splash is also less. This applies for both roller and solid lifter. The reading you get on your gauge IS NOT the true reading in the whole motor. The oil pressure drop from gauge to back or front of motor can be from 10- 30 psi even though the gauge reads 35 at idle. Sorry for the long story. This is the best info I can offer you. Rick L.