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Just purchased one from you guys.
Innovative idea! Hard to believe it took 20 years for someone to refine this small, yet very important part of the LS series engine.
Thanks guys!
I just did this as part of my rear oil leak repairs. When I opened the cover, here's what I saw. You can see the barbell had popped out on it's own - whach was convenient for removing it, but inconvenient for oil pressure:
Here's the new one in. You can see it is nice and flush. Note the threads - that's so you can use a bolt as an extractor. It was a VERY tight fit getting it in there. Not quite a press fit, but tight:
Hi Darth,
Thanks for the pictures and input on the Billet Barbell.
Just a note, when you run your engine, the oil pressure will push the Barbell back out about .050" or the thickness of the RM cover gasket. It gets pushed up against the cover. That is normal and that is why the plastic one was sticking out like that.
Hi Darth,
Thanks for the pictures and input on the Billet Barbell.
Just a note, when you run your engine, the oil pressure will push the Barbell back out about .050" or the thickness of the RM cover gasket. It gets pushed up against the cover. That is normal and that is why the plastic one was sticking out like that.
Thank you,
Christian
That's good info, thank you. Still a great product. I was glad to gain some oil pressure
Yea mine was a very tight fit as well. Even with the billet barbell and a GMPP HV oil pump my oil pressure is still like 20psi hot idle. The barbell is a nice piece for sure tho, I was worried about tearing the oring putting it in tho.
I just did this as part of my rear oil leak repairs....
-- image deleted for brevity --
Here's the new one in. You can see it is nice and flush. Note the threads - that's so you can use a bolt as an extractor. It was a VERY tight fit getting it in there. Not quite a press fit, but tight:
-- image deleted---
Oil pressure up 10-psi. Nice product, Saccity
Just following back up -- I keep rechecking, and oil pressure is definitely higher vs before
Order placed, can't wait to get it installed! Christian, have you or anyone using the billet barbell noticed any difference in oil pressure?
Hi mjs,
The main purpose for our Billet Barbel is to eliminate unfiltered oil from
getting into the bearings by forcing the oil through the filter.
I don't think it would make a difference on the oil pressure, although a couple people like Darth, have said there oil pressure improved. Not sure if they did something else to their engine at the time they installed the Barbell?
I wanted to post and let you know I just purchased one of your precision barbell units a minute ago. Looks like a very nice product, and all the reviews I have read are positive.
I was wondering if you could shed some light on something I just noticed today. I have 3 old core LS engines sitting at my shop. One of them is a 4.8L engine that we pulled out of my sons truck as we upgraded to a 5.3L engine. His old 4.8 had 274K miles on it when we pulled it. No issues with it at all except it was burning through a quart of oil every 1000-1500 miles. Noticeable blue smoke on first start up in the morning. Today I pulled both valve covers and immediately I noticed something was off. The drivers side of the engine looks like it was being starved for oil. The rockers on that side are DISGUSTING with tons of baked on carbon, and crystalized oil deposits. Even the pushrods, and the heads themselves where the pushrods come up through them look like it is discolored from over-heating, or just baked on oil. The passengers side=looks brand new! There is NO carbon build up on any of the valve train components on the passenger side of the engine. I pulled a rocker, and then a pushrod and ran it through my fingers and there is NO build up of any kind on ANYTHING on the passenger side of the engine. If I took a picture of both sides of the engine you would think I was pulling a prank. It does not seem possible that one side of the engine could look so bad, and the other side so clean. All 8 rockers on that the drivers side (bad side) are DESTROYED where the push rod rides in the cup. The cups are wallowed out and the oil feed hole is starting to get damaged by the push rod tip.
What in the world could explain the drivers side of the motor being starved for oil?????????
I have a 2nd 5.3L core engine here and I pulled the valve covers off of it and find THE EXACT SAME THING! What can I do to insure that my 6.0L build gets the oil that it needs to the drivers side of the head to prevent this? Has anyone else noticed this before? It worries me that there is such a stark contrast between the two banks of the engine.
There is a pcv valve in the driver cover that somewhat keeps the oil mist etc in the driver cover. Its not in the pass side cover. There is no starvation. That is likely the issue. The fix is using the better designed 04 and up driver cover with metal insert that has a very small metered orifice in it.
Sounds like an oil gallery on the LH side of the engine was restricted/clogged and starved that side for oil. NOT common! I would bet maintenance (or lack thereof...) was poor on both engines. The 5.3 is a truck engine, and many truck owners are notorious for minimal or non-existent maintenance. Looks like these two engines were victims of such abuse.
We bought my sons truck with 255K miles on it, and only put right at 20K on it before swapping the engine. It's very likely, and possible, that the vehicle was not maintained properly by the original owner. I had my son changing the oil every 3000-4000 miles but apparently the damage was already done before we got it.
12-27-2016, 12:37 AM
