Fireballmatt15

I am building a 408 stroker currently and am trying to decide on what oil pump to use. I have read some people say a high volume oil pump will drain the pan and destroy the engine and others claim that's a myth. My main bearing clearance is at .0025" and rods are at .0021" and am planning on running 5w30 or 10w30. Are these clearances large enough to require a high volume oil pump or would a stock pump do? I've been looking at the Melling 10296 but am unsure if I should use that or not after reading all the draining the pan claims.

G Atsma

Let's settle the myth- The flow difference between high and std. volume pumps really isn't that much, and certainly never enough to "drain the pan".
That's the biggest piece of crap "internet wisdom" on the net today.

Fireballmatt15

Taking that into account what pump would you use in my situation the melling 10295 or the 10296?

1FastBrick

iTrader: (16)

The 10295.

If and only if you can not make enough pressure with that pump then get a 10296.

Rich-L79

FWIW: AFR does say that when using their heads to either NOT use a high volume pump or if you do to install oil restrictors on the passages that feed the valvetrain/heads. Their point, as they say, is that a high volume pump can put too much oil up into the heads thus overwhelming the oil seals on the valves allowing oil to bypass them and increase oil burning/consumption.

A direct quote from the AFR notes:

• High Volume/Pressure Oil Pumps - If you are using a high volume or high pressure oil pump it can submerge the valve seals in oil causing smoking or oil consumption. Your block manufacturer or engine builder can recommend oil restrictions to the top end/valve train components.

G Atsma

There are NO oil passages to the heads besides the pushrods, and you don't want to restrict oil to the lifters. Smaller pushrod orifices might be an answer here, but the best answer is to use a std. volume pump.

01CamaroSSTx

iTrader: (3)

For those clearances the 10295 is just fine and there's nothing wrong with using HVOP's on performance builds it's actually a benefit to the engine parts to do so. I have a 10296 in the LSX with .0025-.0027 clearance and I run the 5w30 and 10w30 oils. I also went with the Moroso 21150 pan, pickup and windage tray which requires an oil filter relocation kit. The pickup tube to pan clearance is right at 3/8" and I went this direction because the stock pan with 1/4" pan to tube clearance was causing some vectoring and I was seeing oil pressure drops at WOT. I probably could've adjusted the pan to pickup clearance some more and keep the fbody pan but it sure is nice having that extra oil capacity.

Kjduvall

just me but, i use high pressure std volume on all my/ friends set ups and have had no problems, except that oil needle that broke off the gauge once from a over rev.......

Rich-L79

Excess pressure you don't really need is just a waste of horsepower.

Rich-L79

On a Chevy design I believe you would put some kind of restrictors in the tops of the lifters. The AFR comment probably applies in different ways to different applications.

grinder11

iTrader: (1)

^^^^^^^Spot on^^^^^^^ I've run a 10296 since 2005. Standard pressure spring. NEVER ran the pan dry. The only reason I'm still running it is because of piston squirters. BTW, with piston squirters and an oil cooler, my oil pressure@7,000 rpm shift point is approx 50lbs. Other than the fiasco that are the LS7 heads/guides issues, my engine has gone 50,000 trouble free miles with that pressure, using 0w-40 M1. So much for needing 70lbs-80lbs oil pressure........

Fireballmatt15

Thanks everyone I ended up ordering a 10295.

grinder11

iTrader: (1)

Smith Brothers PRs that restrict oil thru the pushrod use a pressed in roll pin/split pin to reduce flow to the top end. This info came right from S.B......