oil pumps (not efi)

[Jim Davies]

On Fri, 13 Dec 1996, John Hess wrote:

> I have been reading this thread over the last few days and feel 
> compelled to interject the following;
> 
> It is my understanding that on a Chevy small block, it is not 
> recommended to utilize a high volume oil pump.  This can cause the oil 
> to be pumped in a manner that will fill up the lifter valley while 
> choking off oil supply to the bottom end.  The recommendation appears 
> to use a high pressure pump, instead.  This would imply that there is, 
> in fact, a difference.
> 
> 
Its unlikely that you would fill the lifter area, but very likely that 
you will fill the top of the cylinder head area, this can be done with
a stock pump if revs are over, say, about 5000 for long periods of
time. been there... Other engines have restricted oil returns from the head
area, too, with the best of all being the 426 hemi, IIRC the figure is 5
qts on the heads when revs are over 5K for any period. If you see any
pictures of NASCAR hemi's, they will invariably have an external oil return
pipe/hose from each rocker cover back to the pan. I learned this the hard
way ;-) 

JD