My 427 SOHC Build..... Finally the time has come!

[cobracammer]

OK ladies and gentlemen,

Last night I got started on fixing my own mistake.  I needed the oil pickup tube properly spaced.  I decided that I wanted to be 1/2 inch off the bottom.  I know some probably take it even closer.  With the oil pan removed and the new oil pickup stud installed, I put the ball of clay on the pickup screen wrapped in plastic wrap.  After pushing down on the oil pan, I could now feel that the ball of clay was being compressed against the bottom of the pan.  When I removed the pan and measured, I was at approx. 3/4 of an inch.  So in order to get to the 1/2" I was shooting for, I used a grade 8 SAE "extra thick" washer.  1 washer actually brought me to the 1/2" I was looking for.  I am just awaiting another tube of TA-31 so I can seal up the oil pan with all new gaskets, and I will be ready to install back into the car!

[WConley]

How does that washer work?  Are you putting it between the oil pump and the block mounting pad in order to lower the pump / pickup assembly?

I wouldn't do that!  The pump mounting joint sees a ton of vibration.  You've got an extra leak path now with that extra joint, and the two fasteners will have an air gap under them.  They will never come up to torque properly, and you could very well crack the pump housing.  In addition, you're pulling your pump drive shaft out of the pump by 1/4".   It may no longer have enough engagement.

If I absolutely had to do something like that, it would involve a machined steel spacer plate with o-rings on both sides.  I'd also get a custom pump drive shaft made to the correct length.

[ScotiaFE]

Or just bend the pipe to suit.
You know there is a gasket that needs to fit between the pipe flange and pump housing.

[jayb]

I don't think he's changing the oil pump position, it should still be mounted at the front, directly to the block.  It is a rear pickup pan, so I think he is shimming down the long tube that reaches towards the back of the pan, and has the  pickup screen on it.  The tube mounts to a stud on one of the main cap bolts with a sheet metal fin welded on the tube.  So he is putting a little bit of twist in the oil pump pickup tube, but probably not much.  Without seeing it, it sounds to me like it will be OK.  How about a picture, Jason?

[WConley]

Oh - OK.  That sounds fine Jay.  Jason, you may want to LocTite that bolt that you've put the washer on.  It will be more susceptible to loosening from vibration.

[cobracammer]

Yes, correct.  I am not moving anything.  I am placing a washer between the oil pump pickup stud (the stud on that main cap) that holds the pickup (since its kid of long being a rear sump).  The Main stud that has a small threaded stud on it for securing the oil pick up.  I would try to bend the "mounting tab" that the bolt goes through in order to bring the pick up closer to the bottom of the pan, but with my luck, I will end up breaking it off or tearing a hole in the pickup tube.  In the pictures below, I am just putting a washer/spacer on the small thread side of the stud that the oil pick up.  This will be the attachment point for the middle "Tab" you see on the pickup.

[Jim Comet]

I am personally fond of welding a tab that stick down 1/4 inch to the pickup housing. If suction sucks/flexes the tube toward the bottom of the pan the tab will stop the pickup from contacting the pan and causing starvation. Jim

[blykins]

I would feel fuzzier inside if it were closer than 1/2"....

[cobracammer]

Yea, Speaking with Jay, he suggested closer as well (1/4").   I was thinking last night and I may just add 2 thick SAE grade 8 washers and test that.  That would probably bring me closer to 1/4" off the bottom.  TA-31 should be in tomorrow afternoon, so tonight I am going to throw the Pilot bearing in the freezer in preparation for installing the Flywheel and Clutch (after sealing the oil pan) and I will be dropping this back into the Saleen this weekend!

I really do find the "think-tank" style of these forums extremely helpful.  Thanks to everyone

[cobracammer]

OK in preparation for the sealing tonight (TA-31 is here!), I wanted to dial in the gap between the oil pickup screen and the bottom of the oil pan.  I tried and tried!!!!  Best I can do is 0.737" from the bottom.  I tried bending the tab (I was praying I wouldn't tear something or break it off), and I tried putting 1 thick washer under the tab before I tightened it down. (2 washers would not leave enough threads for me to feel comfortable).  When I called Canton Racing, they specified that with that 8" deep rear sump, the pick up should be 7.5" deep so that would be 1/2" from the bottom (or a tad more with 2 gaskets and a windage tray).  Honestly, I think this is the best I can do.  With 8" of Oil above the pickup and a slosh baffle built in, 0.7" is it I suppose.

Anyway, this is going to sound like a really uneducated description, but I have been wondering about the Distributor shaft end play.  When I check this (with the distributor bolted in place, and the cap and rotor removed), the Shaft will not move at all up and down. (Note I still have the weights and springs installed).  However, parts do move.  The parts under the counterweights do move up and down a little.  There is a cylindrical "thing" below the weights with fins on it.  This cylinder and the plate below the weights moves up and down (just about as far as it shows in the instructional videos on youtube).  I am not sure why the whole thing does not move up and down thought?  Are the weights installed to something in the shaft that is fixed? (I don't want to start taking parts off a distributor if I am not sure what they are and how to put them back.  It gives me a little hope that if I pull and push on the "plate" below the weights, it and the Finned cylinder under it move up and down, but it gives me doubt that the whole shaft does not move up and down a few thousandths.

Also, to make sure I have the timing dialed in again, I checked for a 3rd time.  This time, I marked on the distributo with blue magic marker where the #1 plug goes in relation to the cap. (since I have to remove the cap to see the distributor.  I have the timing pointer at 11* BTDC and the rotor is just touching the blue mark on the distributor housing.  Hopefully after everyones help on this, I have it at least where it will start and I can dial it in from there once its running.

Also bothered me that the plug wires I made did not have boots, so I just went ahead and purchased another set of superconductor 8.5mm wires with the boots already installed.  For one thing, the boots made it a Heck of a lot easier to attach to the plugs.  On the down side, they are no longer custom sized, so the wires are a little longer than I would like.  either way, I feel better on this point.

Pilot bushing is in the freezer (to shrink it down) and I hope to have everything buttoned up and back in the car by Saturday or Sunday.

[jayb]

I think you should try to do better on that gap between the bottom of the pan and the oil pickup.  You will definitely not have 8" of oil over the pickup when the engine is running, more like 2" or less, and if you accelerate or go around a corner the oil will slosh around, and your oil pump will start sucking air.

Suggest you take the tube off and take it somewhere that has an oxy-acetylene torch, heat the tube up cherry red, and bend it down a little bit.  That's probably all you'll need to do...

[cobracammer]

Ill see what I can do this weekend.  I would imagine it wouldn't have to move that much at all to get from .7 to .25, so maybe a combo of the washer and bending the tube clost to the screened pick up end(instead of trying to bend the tab to get more reach) will work.

[jayb]

I've always just heated the tube itself up, and bent it a little.  As long as you don't go too crazy you won't kink it or anything...

[cobracammer]

Yea I will use a little torch this weekend and put a small bend on it.  I have the 1st oil pan gasket and the Windage tray sealer curing.  Then I will be able to lay the 2nd gasket (Dry) and get an exact measurement that I can use to start heating and bending.  I am using the clay ball technique and measuring it with a set of digital calipers.  I will update later this weekend.

 

[cobracammer]

Oh - OK.  That sounds fine Jay.  Jason, you may want to LocTite that bolt that you've put the washer on.  It will be more susceptible to loosening from vibration.

This was a good idea.  I used blue Loctite on the nut threads and the stud threads before I snugged it down.  I also used blue Loctite on the bolts that bolt the pickup to the housing and also on the bolts that hold the pump to the block.

Thanks