30th t/a

iTrader: (51)

Anyone ever have this happen? This is on a 02 WS6 with a new Melling 10296 pump. Its like the the oil pick up tube is too far forward??

For those of you who haven't seen my previous thread, a few weeks ago I started my new setup and oil pressure was only 20 psi cold, That was with a used Melling 10295 pump, NEW O ring, and used cam retainer plate. So I installed a new oil pump, new O ring, and new cam retainer plate. While trying to bolt on the Melling 296 oil pump, I ran into this issue.

I do remember when I was putting this together last summer, (engine out of car), it took a little force to get the pickup tube into the Melling 295 pump. But it seemed to go in and bolted down OK.

G Atsma

How about loosening the tube from its mounting to the block, putting it into the pump, bolting it down, THEN mounting it to the block? That way "lining up" is not an issue.

farmington

iTrader: (14)

if you had to use spacers to fit a double row timing chain, the bracket for the oil pickup will need to tweaked a little for the hole to line up

30th t/a

iTrader: (51)

I'm not using a double roller chain but
I'm going to use a die grinder to reshape the mounting bracket hole to allow for some adjustment when inserting the tube into the pump.

30th t/a

iTrader: (51)

Every oil pump install that i have read about did not require doing this. That's why I was asking but for some reason, my tube is not lining up. I dropped the k member last night and will be reshaping the mounting hole to allow for adjustment.

KCS

iTrader: (20)

That's how I always do it.

01CamaroSSTx

iTrader: (3)

Just thought I'd throw this out there. Are you running the fbody pan with Z06 pick up tube and trap door setup from Improved Racing? I had purchased this combo and found that the trap door needed to be modified to clear the pick up tube.

The problem I had was the pick up tube being too close to the bottom of the pan causing low oil pressure like you described. My oil pressure would hold 15-20psi at idle and come up to 40psi at the hit of the throttle. Took it out for a test run and at WOT under a load the pressure fell to almost zero. I'm so glad I was paying attention and got out of the throttle before it got ugly.

Just curious as to what kind of clearance you have there. I had about an 1/8th of clearance and it was causing me issues. I ended up switching to the Moroso 21150 oil pan kit and now my clearance is closer to 3/8 and the oil pressure stays up around 60psi.

30th t/a

iTrader: (51)

I'm running a stock fbody pan and pickup.

30th t/a

iTrader: (51)

I pulled this stuff out of the pickup screen. No clue what it is. It looks like reddish pink fabric of some type.

Could this cause low oil pressure?

G Atsma

VERY strange.....

KCS

iTrader: (20)

Shop rag maybe?

G Atsma

I can see that....

30th t/a

iTrader: (51)

Don't have any red shop rags.
Kinda looks like insulation for a home.
Whatever it is, I know the pickup screen did not look like that when I installed it.

ImprovedRacing

Whatever they are, those fibers could definitely I have been causing enough restriction to cause the oil pressure issue. Looks like there was quite a lot of it. Some of it may have also gone through your oil pump, and possibly clogged up the oil filter as well.

Those fibers are coming from somewhere, I would recommend looking through the engine to find the source and make sure there isn't any more of it.

Regarding the oil pickup tube, as mentioned make sure you bolt it to the pump first to make sure it's properly seated then bolt it to the main cap stud. If you can't get it to line up properly, the pickup tube may be bent. Considering those fibers that may have gone through it, I would recommend replacing the pickup tube with a new one. We sell factory GM parts if you need anything.

omaha stylee

That looks more like TSP sticker backing. Ha! Seriously though, I am going to second the red shop towel theory. I can tell you from first hand experience, that people forget shop towels in the pan to keep the tube bolt from dropping when changing the pump. Personally I would pull the pan and clean it out completely including the pickup and screen. Compressed air works well.

A clogged pickup WILL cause low oil pressure.

You already dropped the K. You might as well pull the whole pan to see if there is anything else in there. It will give you peace of mind.

00pooterSS

iTrader: (40)

Well it's the way it should be done. Most info out there is from guys not wanting to drop the pan and do it right. So they wrestle with it and fight it and that's why there's so many torn o rings in the LS world. If the tube was fitted to the pump and then bolted down it wouldn't be as much of an issue. You don't need to open the hole it won't help you. The only way it will is if the bolt is loose and then it can slide back and forth. But you'll have to drop the pan to loosen it to let it slide, if you drop the pan and take the bolt out you won't need it to slide.

So bolt the pickup tube into the pump, then bolt the pump to the block. Or do it the right way and drop the pan take out the bolt and either mount the tube to the pump and then the pump to the block then put in the tube support bolt, or mount the pump to the block and then put the tube in the pump and put the bolt into the pickup tube support bracket last, your call on that part.

00pooterSS

iTrader: (40)

Yeah but you also bought a used motor, or rebuilt from someone. You don't know the history.

I gotta ask, why did you get rid of the stroker, did something go wrong with it? It was running like a champ last I saw it.

patSS/00

iTrader: (6)

Did you try disassembling the pump, taking out the rotors, attaching the pickup tube to the back of the pump, then bolting to the block, then putting the pump back together?

30th t/a

iTrader: (51)

Thanks for the reply. I dropped the k member and took the pan out. Bolted the pickup and new o ring into the pump. The hole on the mounting bracket was about a 1/8" off from the stud.
When I installed it last summer I had to pull on the tube a little to get it to go onto the stud. That was with the engine out of the car.

It was tuned on e85 and had 12.5.1 cr.
Only a few gas stations had e85 near me and they were 30 minutes away.
Plus I wanted to go with an aluminum block and back to a 6 speed. So now I have this L92 short block, 317s, ls6 cam and intake. Plannin on installing a D1SC on it. Stage 3 tick 6 speed and newly rebuilt 12 bolt.

30th t/a

iTrader: (51)

Just an update. New melling 10296 pump, new o ring, new cam retainer plate, flushed out pickup tube, got me 35psi COLD IDLE.

time for new bearings I guess