Oil Lbs question

[hpy540]

OK i have most of the bugs worked out but i still think it is going to be a shakedown summer. I am running a melling HV pump and a 16 qt pan. I set the mains at .003 and the rods at .0028 + or - .0001 or .0002 and i am a little concerned about the oil pressure i am running. i am running a 540 with 9.7:1 with afr alum heads. i have decent oil pressure when i am cruising. When it is cold (60lbs) or just up to temp i am running about 20 lbs idle . I did put the the higher pressure relief spring the pad and i originally used Havoline 10-40 non synthetic oil for the break in period on the engine. When i run it kinda hard for about 10 min or so the pressure drops down to 10lbs or less at idle some times bouncing off of 0. I know my cooler is a little on the small side (any one have a bigger one i can buy) So i switched to 20/50 on the oil.. I still have the same #'s/problem? Am i missing something major here? Do i need to pull the motor and tighten up the clearances? I do not want to fry the crank and even worse the valve train. My pressure sender is right in the pad by the remote filter adapter. I put a 2nd mechanical one in the upper back passage in the block just as a verification that my original one was calibrated correctly. My oil cooler is only about 8/10 inches long and it runs power steering through it also. Any suggestions here?

[Wobble]

What is your oil temp?

When I switched to Mobil-1 v-twin 20/50 I picked up 10psi at hot idle 240F oil temp and saw about 10degree less oil temp when running hard.

Expensive but not too bad at 50 hour changes.

Your oil cooler sounds way too small for 600hp

[Stingray69]

Clearences may be slightly generous, for having high oil pressure readings. I think the 540 motor likes generous clearences, but it will show on pressure gage. Pressure is generated by the difficulty that oil flows thru bearings to journals.

You have a 330 oil cooler, it sounds like. Magnum one is longer, but still 2 ". You'll need 3" or 3 1/2" by about 22", depending if you want to retain 1 1/4" slip on hose nipples or go to 1" NPT. Teague make a large one; mine is Eddie marine; 3"X22" combo with 1 1/4" hose nipples. Brackets extra...

You will need to have oil temp gage, to know when you no longet have an oil cooler issue. This is where I woud start; getting a baseline/starting point temp, then change cooler, etc., 'till you are down around 200-ish.

[Wobble]

I boat in warm water mostly, running about 600hp I tried a combo cooler pictured and then went with the Teague offshore cooler (red one). Bought bronze fittings from marine supply store. Very happy with the results. May be too much for cold water areas without oil t-stat. Cooler was about $470 i think + separate $99 power steering cooler.

As Stingray mentioned u must know your oil temp. I measure mine in pan, run about 240-260 when running hard. 5700rpm

[hpy540]

I know i need a temp guage and i put a couple of extra fillings in the pan for just such a incident. can you sned me the pics that you posted mark_lmk@yahoo.com

Which cooler is gooing to do a better job for the price a eddie marine, teague, or a hardin?

[Wobble]

Teague is best around for max cooling, It makes two passes thru a 4" cooler. Combo coolers are fine depending on what temp you are at now. BTW dont buy a chromeed cooler like I did, it reduces efficiency somewhat.

Bottom line, you need to know your oil temp now before you go much further. If you are pushing 280-290* then the Teague is the way to go.

Sent u picture

[hpy540]

Is the Eddie marine 22" model 3" in dia? i am thinking this is the easiest way to go. is their cooler comparable to Hardin?

[mr_velocity]

I run the Teague cooler on a 509 cu in 600hp motor. I never see more than 240 in the pan after extended hard runs, I don't have a sensor after the cooler since I couldn't get the gauge to move much.

[PatriYacht]

I run the Eddie Marine cooler on 540s making 600+. It does the job very well. At about 230.00 (plus 50.00 for the mount brackets) it's the best deal out there. My clearences were closer to .002 on rods. Oil pressure with the same Melling oil pump is 60 cruising at 4000rpm with 220 degree oil, idle is 40lbs. With closer clearences I'm running thinner oil. You need a good flow of oil past the bearings to cool them. I broke in the engines with 10-40 then switched to 15-50 Mobil 1.

[articfriends]

Its not your clearences. Even though that sounds like alot it should carry 20-25 psi at idle unless your oil is way into the mid 200 degree range. If it was cleasrence the thicker oil would have helped,I e-mailed you my phone # as i would like to talk to you as i have really close set-up,Smitty (other than i have huge off shore cooler)