Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines Low Oil Pressure

I have a 292 and was running a 280 hyd. cam. The engine was built last winter. I ran it 7 or 8 times last year. The oil pressure started going down on it. I replaced the oil pump with a high volume pump. It did not solve the problem. I parked it last fall and am now just getting around to working on it. I will pass on what I have found.The cam had slipped backwards in the cam gear. The two center cam bearing are worn completely out. The front and rear bearing is worn, but nothing compared to the two center one's. I found the source of the oil problem. The question is why did those center two bearings wear so badly? Maybe some of you guys have had some similar experiences. Any info. would be appreciated. I plan on replacing the bearings and the cam and gear. I don't want this to happen again. Thanks in advance.

Hello,One thing I might consider is the Cam in a 6 is so long it's really hard to support the cam during installation, so it possible you damaged or push the center bearings out of position slightly when installing the cam. If the motor is out of the car,I either do one of two things when putting a cam in a long motor---stand the motor on end so I am dropping the cam in or leave the back cam plug out until the cam is in.Just some thoughts---Paul

How well did you ream out the oil passages after the block came back from the hot tank? Several passes with a .22 caliber brush and bore solvent are needed to make sure these oil passages are clear.

Thanks guys for your replys. The cam was a slightly used cam when I bought it. It is being checked out now, for alignment. I know the bearings were installed properly and I swabbed all oil passages. The cam installed with no problems as for binding. As of now I am still in search of the cause of the problem. Needless to say I am in the need of a 280 hyd. Clifford cam. I am not going to use the one I have whatever the out come. I will keep you all posted to what I find. Thanks

i have the same problem with my 292. i also used a clifford cam. 270 was the number. i have yet to take it out to find the problem. tom

Hud1,

Just a couple toughts:
Too much oil pressure at the begining, worn out cam bearing due to excessive effort to turn the oil pump shaft, check out the distributtor for excessive wear between shaft and housing, a bent camshaft etc...I believe a bent cam or a heavier than required oil weight making too hard to turn pump the culprits. The Cam walking back in the gear and the 2 bearings dead may go to the too much effort to turn the pump route.

Thanks guys. The engine slipped time(HEI unit moved) on the last pull. This leads me to think the HEI unit may have something to do with it. I am going to check it out for wear. Early in the project it slipped time at about 5000rpms. It was turning about 5500 when it slipped the last time. I am for sure going to go back to a regular oil pump instead of the high volume. The oil I am running is a 20/50 syn. blend oil. This should not be a problem, but the high volume pump is a lot harder to turn than a regular pump. Anyone had HEI problems please let me know . Any input appreciated.

Maybe the distributor is setting too deep in the block and causing binding between the cam and the dist drive gear. If it was too deep or the shaft was too long it would also cause the oil pump gear to back down against the oil pump face plate and cause binding and eventually wear.Moroso makes a dist shim pack for V motors--- something similar could be done on an inline. Just another thought---Paul