[cahoonie]

Ok guys,I have a huge problem and I cannot figure it out.I have a 540 that was running fine and has for the past 8 years will very little trouble other than part failure due to lots of runs on said part.Ok,I pulled it down this past winter to freshen it up and here is what has transpired from then till now.I honed and cleaned the block,had crank checked and it needed to be turned.Did that and when I checked clearences it was 3.3 thou on the mains and 2.5 thou on the rods.I was only missing a nice oil pump to make this a nice motor as I have always used a stock style high volume pump without trouble.I bought a Moroso billit pump and put it in and put a stefs pan on also.I ran it the first pass and the oil presseure was going backwards as the tach was going forward on the pass.I put it in the trailer and when I pull the pan I have brass showing.I think it was just to tight on the rods so a new crank and clean everything and back together we go.It went 1 pass and lost oil pressure again so I rolled off the gas and went to the trailer.I add a extra quart and try again thinking that it was pumping the pan dry. Brass again!!!Ok it must be the pump so I rebuild again after cleaning and I put a standard high volume pump on it and same thing again.We pull it down check the alignment again,check the oil passeges again and installed a windage tray over the sump area and bam oil pressure problem solved I thought.Rock steady pressure down the track but 12 dyno pulls then an oil change,10 passes later oil pressure goes away again.HELP.I have a spare motor from a friend that has the same pan as me but has a external oil pump on it.We both have Merlin II blocks,same oil pan,mine with windage tray his without,CORRECT RESTRICTERS IN THE BLOCK,I say that because evryone is pointing at that.They are the correct ones that World sent me for my block.Why is this pig eating itself up.I have been building my own motors for years and have never had anything like this happen and at $1500 a pop I cant do it again.Any help would be greatly appreciated..............Jimmy

 

[Shawn Morrell]

Brass/bronze is probably the distributer gear and why are you run oil restrictors? Make sure your building your assembly in a clean environment.

 

[cat-can-do]

As stated above the distributor gear, or in my case it was a broken inner valve spring and it was beating the guide out of the head.

 

[steve keen]

Jimmy, be more specific when saying "brass".. do you meen you just saw some brass residue? or it ate the bearings brass ??? { were the bearings munched up ??} did you change the converter while you did this freshen up ?{ just thinkin outside the box, cause the thrust would indicate all the problems your haveing, and a converter change could have brought that on }.. hope you solve it,, motor troubles SUCK !!!!!...... steve

 

[cahoonie]

Brass gear already.It eats the mains till the oil pressure fades and then I pull it apart.It has restricters on the cam journal side to keep it from flooding the top end.Look guys,this is a 7 year old piece that I put a new pump and pan on after I freshened it up.IT WAS IN GREAT SHAPE WHEN I TOOK IT APART BUT IT NEEDED BEARINGS AFTER 500 PASSES.Sorry about the caps.I have come to the conclusion that the priority hole has a crack that opens up under acceleration and alows oil to get away from the main supply.I have an Idea to fix it but I cant get anybody to help me throw it in the river