Well I loosened the main bolts without dropping the caps and the crank started to move again.... I winder if I accidentally had my torque wrench set too high? Ill do some more investigating

 

Did you lube the inserts before putting them in?
Haven't done that in years but I used to use a 50/50 mix of STP & 30 weight oil or the white lithium grease.

 

I sprayed the bearings and journals with white lithium before re installing... I used a litle 10-30 on the rear seal to help it out... I just grabbed a little supper and am about to retorque and see what happens

 

I would verify that the bearings are in correctly......

 

I somehow managed to kink up the rear seal like I thought... all my bearings were seated well

Put it back together and I still cant keep oil pressure over 10 psi at a warm idle...

Looks like I'll be switching to 20w-30 and see how long it will last

 

Did you use plastigauge to check bearing clearance? That is really the only way to get the torque correct on mains and rods. A couple of punds can make a diffenece here. It they are too tight on journals it will cause excessive wear.

 

Man that sucks having your hopes dashed against the rock in such a fashion as that.


I hope you figure it out.

 

Are you going by the stock oil pressure gauge?
If so, hook up a manual gauge to check it.

 

I have been going off a mechanical gauge... The sending unit was the first thing I replaced, then oil pump, and now bearings...

I just wanted to see something positive so I ran to Walmart in the middle of the night and grabbed 5 quarts of 20w-50 and dumped it in... The pressure stays for longer but eventually drops to nothing after 10 minutes of operating temp.

I am out of ideas here...?

 

i hate to hear the bad news, i was rooting for you to get a better result.

what's your new oil pump? standard or high volume?

my only ideas would be try a high volume oil pump,
or redo the bearings again and use plastigage and oversize bearings to reduce clearances.

the majority of the oil journals are on the crank, along with some more on the cam. i'd think it would be a lot more critical to tighten the crank, before messing with the cam.