A follow up to "oil starvation issues" thread

[carl hinkson]

Originally Posted by joespanova

So I started pulling the engine down , pulled pan and its full of bearing material. One by one the rod bearings looked like they were getting restricted oil flow but not as bad as I 've seen. The rods looked fine.

The main bearings on the other hand WERE COMPLETELY DESTROYED , to the point of the 3 center main caps getting "blued or blackened" .
As you can imagine I'm angry , pissed and any other verb you can come up with.
This isn't my first small block , to say the least...............but it IS my first Dart block ( Little M sportsman ).
The main caps no longer fit tight in the registers either, BTW.
Now here's the really pathetic part.........THESE BLOCKS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE PRIORITY MAIN OILING? WTH is going on here?

Main clearance at .003 , crank is straight ( BRC crank ) new Melling pump etc etc. The plugs in the block at rear are not plugging any passages...not that I'm aware of. The sump had 6 quarts.

Now how in the he*lL can a priority main oiling block starve the mains?

You can bet I'll be calling Dart in the AM.

With your build and the results you had it really would not have mattered if it was a Dart, World or Bowtie block the results would have been the same in the end.

I really doubt it has anything to do with Dart I have worked on a alot of Dart platforms over the years with zero problems.

Oil aireation is not a good thing, Once again those rods are a lot of mass compared to a good steel rod and aluminum rods will create alot of windage that you don't need at that RPM.

You have no clue on lifter bore clearance and those lifters run small with is dumping to much oil on the crank and rods plus the oil to the top end is regulated off lifter bore clearance to much clearance to much oil to the top end. Those budget lifter did not really save you any money in the end.


Your running a 90's pan that has been discontinued there is a reason they discontinued this pan.

You need a cam bearings that will not pour unwanted oil down on the crank and cause windage issues.

I will send your links to Dart for you so that they can evaluate your build and go from there.

The vacuum pump is a good deal but with vacuum and poor oil clearances it sucks oil out of those areas.

When your oil pump is sucking aireated oil that is full air the results will not be good in the end.

When your bearings were failing and your running unfiltered oil through your engine was not a good thing, Blocking your bypass really works believe me. I have been doing this for 40 plus years.

If those aluminum rods are like any other aluminum rod that has been run they do change they shape and will probably need to be resized to as they don't hold there shape like a steel rod.

I would really look into a dry sump next time as I mentioned earlier as this would not have happened and would have saved you a ton of money and time in the end.

Once you get all your ducks in a row you will have a good piece there.

At least nothing is broke and its repairable. Its a big set back though.

Good luck in the future.