A little frustrated and upset with what was going on, I made a decision to get serious with the car and make it right. I pulled the engine and and began trying to diagnose my low oil pressure issues.
Each part cleaned and inspected. I measured the rods and main caps, all within specs. Bearings were worn, but not excessively. The crankshaft look great, but once on the mic it was a different story. The main journals were measuring up to .060" under sized for a total clearance of almost .100". Well there's your problem!
After making some calls and doing some research, I elected to purchase a new crankshaft for the awesome price of just over $300 through a local performance parts supplier.
I saved my $ and was able to round up a few more goodies to breath some life into this tired engine.
The list included a new high volume oil pump, 7 quart oil pan with matching pick-up, high flow fuel pump, new valve covers and air cleaner housing, new bearings, a Summit version of the Edelbrock camshaft and of course new gaskets. I was also able to pickup an Edelbrock water pump as a local swap meet to finish it all off.
Back together and ready to drop back into the car I made a discovery that I want you all to pay attention too. This is the flexplate I had been running on my BBC since day one of the first build, it came with the first engine.
IT DOES NOT HAVE A COUNTER WEIGHT! OOPS!
I researched and sourced a used flexplate and confirmed I had the correct damper on the front.
Running the wrong flexplate will cause premature crankshaft & bearing wear. It also cause a slight annoying vibration. Sounds familiar and is the reason I am on round 3 of 454 builds. I wont be doing that again!
The heart of the beast was once again up and running. Smooth as silk, sounding mean and with tons of oil pressure!
After making some calls and doing some research, I elected to purchase a new crankshaft for the awesome price of just over $300 through a local performance parts supplier.
IT DOES NOT HAVE A COUNTER WEIGHT! OOPS!
