OK Jay was able to get the engine torn down and found the issue (s).....
After pulling the distributor, intake and front cover, he ran the oil priming tool to see why I was not getting any oil to the top. You can hear the pump is working because you can hear the oil splashing and pouring down into the pan. After pulling off a few more "bits", Jay found the issue..... The cam bearings.
So long story short, the 427 SOHC block I purchased from Robert Pond has special sized Cam Bearings in the block. Unfortunately my block was missing the cam bearings when I purchased it so I called up Mr. Pond to get a set shipped to me. After speaking with him, it was no problem at all and he sent me out a set. I get the cam bearings and open them up..... 4 cam bearings and not 5. This is actually correct since the Robert Pond Aluminum 427 SOHC race block does not have the oil passages machines in the 5th cam journal.
Fast forward 1 year, and I take my block to get machined at the machine shop in Boynton Beach. After the back and forth with not having to correct torque plates, and other assorted issues with machining my block, I get a call at work one day from the owner. He is asking me why there are not 5 cam bearings. I went over the process with him step by step explaining that I will only be using the cam journals on #1, #2, and #4 (1 and 2 are for the stub cam and #4 is where Jays plug goes so the oil feeds up to the head. I also explained that the #3 cam bearing needs to be installed clocked so that the oil passage does not line up with the hole so that no oil comes out of that galley. We went over this for a good 20 minutes because he was not familiar with this engine (which I would assume not a lot of them come across the table in any machine shop), but when I hung up, I was pretty sure he had it and would be ok.
1st Mistake.... When I picked up my block, I did not check to make sure all was ok..... I realize that a few people on this forum told me to bring calipers with me and make sure all is correct before I leave, but I was so excited to get my block back (and after his explanation of how this was taking a long time because he wanted to do it right and needed all of these special tools and hones for this specific block. I left without checking.
Unfortunately, the #3 cam bearing in the block was installed so that the oil feed holes were aligned and when you run the oil primer tool, that's the oil sound you hear..... oil gushing out of the #3 cam journal. (As a side note, Jay hooked up an oil pressure gauge to the oil filter adapter and got 10PSI. My Saleen has the "Dummy gauge" I believe Ross mentioned (?) where any oil pressure shows on the gauge as perfect. I did take the advise given and purchased 3 more gauges including Oil pressure, Oil temperature, and coolant temp, but the engine konked out before their arrival.
2nd Mistake..... Even though Mr. Pond Sent me the correct # of Cam Bearings (and the correct size), from Jays findings, they were not for the SOHC.( possible mixup at the machine shop? ) They had the one oil feed hole in the cam bearing and not the 2 (or sometimes 3) needed for the side oiler engine. There is supposed be to be an oil hole in the bearing at the 6 Oclock position and then at 90 degrees from that (Side oiler). Unfortunately these only had the one feed hole on the bottom (Machine shop did not catch this and I sure didn't ). So not only was the oil pouring out of the #3 cam journal (Empty with the oil feed holes aligned) but there as no oil being fed up to either head once the oil came into the cam tunnel..... Voila! instant destruction!
OK so far Jay says that the cams are toast! So much so, that a few of the 2 piece cam shells that allow the Cams to rotate in the heads are welded together from the heat. Where the Rockers rid eon the cam lobes is also pretty bad so I am going to get a set of Jays Cams instead of the ones I had (Since I had a rough time with those as the Timing marks on them were like 180 degrees off!)
Right now, I am working with Jay to get the Rockers (All of them) sent off to T & D Machine Products to be completely rebuilt. Also, I am calling Mr. Pond to get another set of Cam Bearings specific to the SOHC block sent out to Jay.
"Doctor Brown" will also be taking the heads and Block to the machine shop to make sure the valve guides are all ok as well as (Most Likely) a good cleaning. He will also be bringing in the Crankshaft to have 0.010" machined off to ensure they are perfectly round (I was warned that the RPM Forged Cranks tend to not be perfect out of the box, but as I measured them with the dial calipers (not well, obviously), I thought they were all good.
** As a side note, maybe the machine shop will also be able to remove the broken off bolt in the water jacket near the water pump as well as clean up the threads on the block (I may have almost stripped a few) as well as the threads on the heads where I tried to install the Helicoils.... After I did so, the intake still did not line up and I am pretty sure I may have stripped a few of those as well to get the Studs down in there.
Better to let these skeletons out of the closet now so they are caught at the right time! :0)
