oil pressure LOST, and then 24 hours later BACK

[Pete Munroe]

Guys,

Well, you got me thinking about the pro/cons of adding any complications to the oil system, point well taken.

Certainly do want to add the ACCU-SUMP, and look into replacing the AVIAD oil dam/scrapper I removed to allow the pan to fit over the lower main support. Not sure how to do that.

Thermostat was added 3 years/~2500 miles ago. (16,000 on engine) Nothing has changed in terms of pressure problems in Willow's turn 2.

Since the first time the car was on the track in 2003? I have had the intermittent oil pressure problem in LONG SWEEPING turns. Have tried to avoid overfilling the pan but it seemed a fine line between too little and what I "imagined would be too much" and create aeration problems.

Mainly, my concerns have been with oil FLOW, not pressure.

Thermostat is the CANTON, not the MOCAL. Very large volume inside, few angles, compared to the MOCAL.

On my install hoses/fittings in/out are #10. Installed it with as many straight in, or 30-60 degree hose ends as I could. (see my gallery)

Many of the installations I see are about as BAD as they could be in terms hydraulic resistance. Acute angles, 90's, 120's, etc or complete reversal type fittings are what I tried to avoid. My hose runs are not much longer than when only the oil cooler was in use.

IMHO, if temps are too low, a GOOD thermostat installation that doesn't impede oil flow and gets oil into a better operating range is more of an asset than liability.

Thanks, Pete

[HealeyRick]

I knew I was experiencing deja vu reading this thread. Take a look at this one with what appears to be the same culprit ... Turn 2 at Willow: IT'S OVER - bearings toasted - FFCars.com : Factory Five Racing Discussion Forum Eddie even had the same symptoms of no oil pressure then back to normal: let's try a new oil pump - please recommend one (story included) - FFCars.com : Factory Five Racing Discussion Forum Good look with your fix!

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Originally Posted by HealeyRick

I knew I was experiencing deja vu reading this thread. Take a look at this one with what appears to be the same culprit ... Turn 2 at Willow: IT'S OVER - bearings toasted - FFCars.com : Factory Five Racing Discussion Forum Eddie even had the same symptoms of no oil pressure then back to normal: let's try a new oil pump - please recommend one (story included) - FFCars.com : Factory Five Racing Discussion Forum Good look with your fix!

Same culprit to a point, the race track,but this guy is using a stock Mustang pan, good for riding around on the street.........I agree with the other posters,if your doing auto cross or road course racing, you better have a good baffled pan, no matter what track you run on.......
anything less, your asking for trouble.........

David

[Pete Munroe]

David,

I can't find a model number on the pan, but I did order it myself 8+ years ago.
It was supposed to be the Cobra pan, 8 qts.

The sump section is 15.25 long, 11.25 wide, 7.5 deep.

Send me a regular e-mail address I can send you some photo that are bigger than they allow here.

Pete

[DAVID GAGNARD]

email sent.........

david

[Pete Munroe]

All,

Got three rod caps off, none of the bearings were anything more than moderately worn...nothing into the copper or remotely near breaking up.

Wear across the face of all three bearings was not as uniform as I would think they should be (original grind on the crank not so great? ). but the crank journal didn't feel grooved ( I did have rubber gloves on).

No evidence of bluing from heat on rod or main caps. Will try to post photos after I get all the caps off.

The crank end-play was 0.006...didn't seem excessive but I do not know...the thrust bearing edges are not showing (assuming they would) and I can ONLY think of the thrust bearings breaking up as dumping enough crap into the pan to match what I have found.

Couldn't get to the mains as the support was in the way. Need to get another wrench.

[RICK LAKE]

Pete Munroe Pete is the distributor and camshaft gear OK? That's some big chunks in the bottom of the pan. Rods 6,7,8 would be the ones with bearing damage because they are the last to get oil in this motor. I hoping for distributor gear and camshaft. The other thing is pulling the inspection cover off this oil pump and check the gear faces and clearance of rotors to body. .006" is within spec for crankshaft end play if this is total in both directions. .010" is about the max. I know of 2 cases where the gears in the oil pump slip on the shafts when the motor oil was hot. When cooled off they tighten back up and worked like normal. Just a thought. Rick L. Ps crank shaft hardness should be better than the bearings hardness unless they are tri metals.