how does anyone know what ANYONE did before it comes apart ? i know its an alien concept but how about not slagging the builder whoever he is until ther's some evidence to support it...

i mean in the last month there have been threads where guys put the oil lines on backwatds, put coolers back that are filthy, run too much oil, run too little oil , fill the oil with fuel...

30 hours is a lifetime on a motor if it is subjected to abuse or a lousy install. and if its built badly they genrally blow up a lot sooner than 30 hours

For starters , anyone who recommends "just run it, I put a low psi spring in the pump, so 20psi at 3500 and 0 at idle is just fine" has no business building engines.

Everyone makes a mistake, and stuff can break. Only thing worse then a engine builder who's engines break, is one that lies and won't stand behind his work. This is one of them.

What do you think the problem could be Steve?

Unless you think the OP is lying, I'd say not knowing how to set valves is evidence of fundemental shortcomings for an engine builder. Not to mention all the other indicators as described by the OP.

i cant wait to hear more words of wisdom from steve

my words of wisdom are simple... altho lost on you , i'm certain...

get some facts before running your mouth.

I cut open the oil filter today. I don't see any shiny metal particles in any of the folds of the filter. The bottom of the filter does have a few fine metal shavings, but isn't that normal with a freshly broken in engine? Definitely don't see a bunch of sparkling copper glitter that someone spoke of earlier. I changed the oil to Castrol 20w/50 and a KN oil filter...same oil pressure situtaion.

The fact that the filter didnt have metal in it is good. It may not be too late to salvage some parts here. However, the facts remain, there is a serious pressure problem here. The only way to fix this is to tear the engine down, verify the clearances and definately, replace the oil pump. BTW, do you know for sure what pump was installed? Sorry for your troubles.....

Your engine was broken in a long time ago.

Maybe a few more of the engine builders around here can chime in. Raylar suggested it sounds like its time to pull the engine, along with myself and several others.

I don't know what to tell you at this point. If your oil pressure was much higher when the engine was new, and now its lost 20-30psi at hot idle, i highly highly doubt its a pump issue. Even if it was, the engines gotta come out.

Who knows, pulling it now just might save your crank, block, rods, oil pan, and lots of other things, should it let go. It will get ugly when that happens. Then its just crate motor time.

I'm going to pull the motor...what a pain in the ass. I should have kept my Chris Craft Stinger. Same engine builder rebuilt my 383 for me on that boat at had many years of trouble free service. Not sure what happened on this one.

Red,
Hopefully you will find something simple. There was a guy on one of the car forums I follow that had very similar issues and it turned out his oil screen had come loose and was sitting in the bottom of the pan The bypass valve in the pump may also be sticking. I agree with the others that if the pressure was good when the engine was first built, it should not have changed. As far as the "low" pressure spring, I am pretty sure that should still give you at least 50 lbs of pressure.

Let us know what you find.

Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md