BBC Oiling ?

[flat broke]

Nowhere near the current opinion, but did you check the Rex oil filter/cooler adapter you bought? If it is the type that replaces the GM filter adapter with the 2 bolts, you may well have omited your oil filter pressure bypass (not a bad thing).
Since I'm guessing that you take your oil pressure reading right above the filter pad, when the oil was cold before some of the pressure would be relieved via the bypass and you would see a lower PSI on the gauge. Perhaps before the changes your top end was stingy on oil as well and you never noticed it. Now that you made a change, and you see the elevated PSI at startup, that caught your attention and now you've noticed an oiling condition that may have been with the engine all along.
I'm assuming your running a hydraulic lifter setup, in which case, you'd know pretty quick if you weren't getting oil to the front lifters, as they would never pump up and create quite a bit of noise in the valvetrain. If you've started the motor, and this hasn't happened, I'd go with the recommendation above to run a set of cutout valvecovers to observe the oiling while the engine is running. While you're at it, call Rex and ask them about the filter adapter and whether or not it has a bypass in it. If the filter pad no longer has a bypass, it would be a good idea to run a higher quality filter like a Baldwin. Not only are these filters stronger and have a higher burst rating, they also have a bypass built into the filter that will allow oil to pass should the filter become clogged.
Good luck,
Chris

[1stepcloser]

LeE ss13,
Thats the same lifter I put in! Although I no longer have the stock lifter to compare it to, I do remember looking at both of them and although they looked similar, I seem to recall that there was a reduced area in the oil groove. At the time I thought it was to increase the lifter body strength.
Your description is exactly my problem. No matter how long I ran the pre-oiler, it was not allowing oil to the upstream lifters.
I am gonna go home tonight and pull the intake, and closely inspect them.
I have no fears about running a "stock" lifter as the cam lift is only .570. and the spring pressure is a very mild 276 lbs. open.
Thanks for the photo, it really sheds light on my condition, after seeing it, it maks complete sense as to why the thing did what it did.
Any thoughts on where I might find a "stock" type lifter?
Thanks again, and I'll let you know what happens as soon as I find out.

[1stepcloser]

flat broke:
Nowhere near the current opinion, but did you check the Rex oil filter/cooler adapter you bought? If it is the type that replaces the GM filter adapter with the 2 bolts, you may well have omited your oil filter pressure bypass (not a bad thing).
If the filter pad no longer has a bypass, it would be a good idea to run a higher quality filter like a Baldwin. Not only are these filters stronger and have a higher burst rating, they also have a bypass built into the filter that will allow oil to pass should the filter become clogged.
Good luck,
Chris Thanks for the input Chris, That was one of the first things that crossed my mind, as I know the Rex piece does not have a bypass.
However, prior to the change, the top end was very well lubricated, as evidenced by the amount of oil left behind when a cover was pulled, as well as the fact that I use a cast aluminum cover with a fill hole located directly above a rocker, and previous to the change, it would make a mess if the cap was removed while the engine was running!
I do run Fram HP series oil filters and I change oil way too frequently for the filter to become clogged. (if it did it would be too late anyway)
It's not a condition of not getting oil to the lifters, its just that there is nowhere near enough for my liking.
Thanks again for the input, I appreciate the help.

[Blown 472]

Would there be any disadvantage to running a new stock lifter on a new cam?
I had nothing but trouble when I ran comp cams lifters, tried them all, the anti pump up and the ultra wazo hydraulic lifters and the snap ring came out of one, when to a flat tappet solid.

[Hal]

Post your question at this site. They have some real savvy engine guys. I think you'll get a lot better info on your oil problem. Also when you go here put oil pressure in the search and see what comes up. If you own a chevy its got everything you want. web page
This one is in the forums under performace topics where you will want to post your question and do a search on oil pressure.
http://www.chevytalk.org/threads/pos...t=&Board=UBB64
[ February 04, 2003, 10:16 AM: Message edited by: Hal ]

[wideopen545]

try another filter i used the same hp filter and had all kinds of trouble high pressure at idle so on changed to a hasting hp filter pressure is ok
just a thought