Yep, It's a SSD and to be honest I was shocked at it's size after all the regular drives I've replaced over the years. I'd gotten an extended warranty on the laptop when I'd bought it so they just sent me a new drive.


I am smiling. If I can just get some of these little issues fixed I'll be ready to finally take it out for some trail runs and see if all my hard work pays off.

 

Had a chance to finally get a gauge on the engine. When it's warmed up I'm only getting around 6-8 lbs of oil pressure at idle. While I know you only need 7 lbs per 1K RPM it wasn't until I'd torn the engine back down and replaced the intake with the Air Gap & installed the new rockers & that one broken lifter that I started to have the low oil pressure.

Now one thing to note is that I've never just ran the engine at 1500-2000 RPM for breakin like some say you should. I think it was for 15-20 minutes you're suppose to run it for? So if my rings haven't seated properly could this be part of the problem? What can/should I do at this point?
Also it's cold blooded and doesn't like to start unless I give it some throttle at first. Once it's warmed up it runs better but I'm still chasing the injector issues. I've got the fuel sync set at 1 right now but I've seen where some have suggested setting it around 6 for a built engine.

 

What weight oil are you running with this engine? You could upgrade the oil pressure pump relief spring which should provide you with greater oil pressure (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/dcc-p3690944), which means dropping the oil pan to replace it. The main bearings clearance has the greatest effect on pressure to my understanding.

 

I've got some 30 wt breakin oil in it right now.

 

Rings won't have anything to do with oil pressure. (unless it burns it, and you run out.....) Low pressure is either a bad pump, or excessive clearances... given the engine doesn't even have 50 miles on it yet...... I would like to think that clearances aren't the problem...... What pump do you have in there? If it's just the stock pump, I would be tempted to install a high volume pump, and see if that doesn't make a difference. (there are also high pressure pumps.... but, not sure that would be a good idea.....)

 

I can't find which one I for sure bought but I think this is it.

DODGE Melling M-72HV Melling High-Volume Oil Pumps | Summit Racing

 

Didn't you purchase the current short block from someone else? Since you are likely going to drop the oil pan to address the issue, you may want to consider checking a few of the main bearing clearances to see what they are, in addition to possibly swapping out the oil pump and/or oil pressure relief spring.

 

Yeah, I am thinkin' getting some plastigauge, and testing rod/main clearances wouldn't be a bad idea.....

 

Yes I'd gotten the short block from a member here but I then had torn the engine down and did a fresh rebuild on it. It's got brand new bearings. So while I can agree with dropping the pan to inspect things I'm not sure about changing other things yet unless I can confirm they are bad.

This didn't start until after I'd replaced the intake manifold & rockers arms. It'd had good oil pressure up until then.

I guess I'm dropping the pan and checking things out.


EDIT: To add to things. After sitting here thinking more about this I figured I'd add a little more. If it was a bearing clearance issue wouldn't I have low oil pressure all the time? When my oil pressure drops it's after it's warmed up and at idle but once I increase idle even just up to 1K RPM's or a little more the oil pressure pops right back up.
I've got the exhaust torn apart right now but once I have it pack together I'll get a video of what is happening.

 

Didn't you verify with a mechanical gauge though?

When it's cold, things are nice and tight, but, as it warms, things expand (at different rates....) and clearances can open up....