FE oil pump ????

[FWB]

other mod along with HP pump with factory components. this is a pic of lemans rods with special pins pressed into the caps to keep the rod bearings from spinning. i actually am selling these. bearings are avail for this application still.

[RICK LAKE]

Priobe I use a HVHP 57 oil pump that gets a little blueprinting done to it. Just polishing and gasket matching of the outlet into the block. I do run a 100# psi spring in the motor and have for 11 years of racing. If you are running a FE crank and rods, ALOT depends on the clearance of them. The orginial .003" for clearance is huge. 100 psi is needed for 6,500 rpms for the bottom end to live with a LOOSE bottom end. Today we are running alot tighter clearances. I run under .002" on rods and .002" on mains in a shelby block. This thing also grows when it gets hot. Thats Aluminum. My Block is also running a stroker kit (482) from Barry R. with BBC rods. These rods don't need the high pressure of 100 psi like FE rods do. IMO, I have left the 100# pump in the motor and get 35-40 psi at idle hot and run between 75-80 psi on the track. I also flood my heads with oil for the cooling the oil does on the valve springs. I have orfices in the heads with Erson rockers, they are .080" holley jets. I also have pushrod oiling to the rockers. This is to get the oil to the contact point of the pushrod and adjust of the rocker. Splash doesn't always get the oil to where it needs to be.
If you are running a street motor and not under heavy abuse, IMO a 80# spring will be fine for the motor. You will also need to run between 1- 11/2 quarts of oil over full so that the pump doesn't run dry. You will also need to keep an eye on the distributor gear for wear. This is important even with a 60# spring in the pump. I have never seen a motor damaged from too much oil unless it filled a cylinder( hydrolock). I have run same bearings for 8 years with my high pressure. Bearing where perfect after 8 years. IMO run the 80# spring and make sure that the returns to the oil pan have no gaskets( heads ) partially blocking the returns. This will delay the oil returning to the pan. This I have seen and had to fix myself running Felpro 1020 head gaskets.
If money is no object, a Titan oil pump is great with adjustments. The real winner is going drysump. Which ever way you go just remember that you loose about 10-20 psi of pressure to the rockers from the bottom of the motor. Rick L.