Oiling concerns

Here is the deal. I built this 468 last year for my Jeep Scrambler. From the get go it seemed to have low oil pressure, probably due to excessive bearing clearances. I stepped up to a 15-50wt oil and just let it warm up before i would get into it. It has a Lunati retro roller camshaft in it, Lunati retro roller lifters, Comp Cams High-Tech pushrods, and Comp Cams Magnum Roller Tipped rockers. The valvetrain had been a little noisy since the build, but I was assured that it was not a huge deal and was common with linked lifters.

Well fast forward to about a month ago and I install a new set of GM aluminum valve covers. I noticed that the valvetrain noise got way worse so I pull the covers and run the motor to see if I maybe had a few rockers out of adjustment and I noticed for about the first 3 or 4 minutes at idle I had no oil flow to the rockers. Then it started dribbling out, not what I am used to seeing with covers off of a Chevrolet. After seeing this I decided to remove the distributor and use my priming tool to see if I was missing something. When I removed the distributor cap I noticed a bunch of oil in the base of the distributor. After about a minute of the drill being at speed with the primer I am getting a pretty good flow, but still not what I am used to.

The only thing that is different from stock is a high volume/ high pressure pump, filter bypass removed, and the front two lifter galley plugs were drilled.

Sorry for the novel, but I really need some help on this. I can not afford to build it all over again.

hi tech comp push rods are not very good .how did you know they were the right length for the lunati roller lifters ?did you do a mild lift check .how much cam lift. did you check that the oil hole in the lifter is not past the lifter bore in the block .how big did you drill the front galley plugs out to ? your dist is worn out shaft is to loose. you say it a loose bottom end whats the oil clearance s on rods and main bearing .rod side clearance . where is the oil pump pickup setting in the pan. dist body loose in the block. how hot are you getting the engine. is the mains studed did you check that the oil pump sitting flat to the main cap .you did not say whats low oil psi ? oil psi builds when RPM moves up? did you check oil pump end play ? did you weld the pick up on the oil pump .there alot of long push rods in a bbc oil is not going to fly up to the rockers very fast. did you check that your not burning up your push rod tips you did post on this last year ?

I posted last year reference oil pressure, but resolved that with a new pump, exhaust wrap on the crossover, and slightly thicker oil.

I used a pushrod length checker and then used marking compound on the valve stem tip to check location and pattern. They are the correct length according to the pattern I got (very tight and centered on the stem). Valve lift is .575 if I remember correctly, pump pickup is 1/4" off the pan, it is NOT welded on, but it is bolted to the pump body.

Bottom end is studded including the oil pump. Oil pressure is fine with 20w-50 and sits at about 20 when warm and will increase to about 65 or 70 with increase engine speed. The bottom end is set up loose, .003. I do not remember the size of the holes in the front galley plugs, but I am thinking about replacing one of them with a standard plug.

I lowered my fan low speed to turn on at 180 and high speed to turn on at 195. The coolant temperatures never exceed 210 when the fans are working. I did have a fan failure last time I took the jeep out and it boiled over, but it never got past about 260 before coming back down.

I was leaning towards a loose distributor as it was pretty loose in the bore compared to my 20 year old cut up distributor/ primer tool. It was a cheap ebay unit that I never got around to replacing, no o-rings on the stem either like the MSD's I have used in the past.
Clay

Edit: I forgot to mention that after inspecting the valve covers I discovered that the exhaust rockers where stightly contacting the drippers inside the cover so I cut the exhaust drippers out. I am sure this is the majority of the tapping, so at this point I am just looking to fix the lack of oil.

20 warm and 70 you do not have a oil issue.pickup is to close to the pan .i allways tac the pickup tube to pump body i seen that tin strap brake off in time.

I know that the oil pressure is good, just trying to figure out why there does not seem to be a good steady stream of oil to the rockers. I checked my pickup and it is fine, and with the gasket it is between 3/8' and 1/2" from the pan.

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Originally Posted by jeepman1320

I know that the oil pressure is good, just trying to figure out why there does not seem to be a good steady stream of oil to the rockers. I checked my pickup and it is fine, and with the gasket it is between 3/8' and 1/2" from the pan.

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thats ok on pan but1/4 from pan. can suck the pan up to the pick up ...i seen it. how fast your drill going ..your oil pump runs at 1/2 speed of the engine so your drill would have to spin 400 to 500 to realy see whats going on at idle for the push rods to see oil and rpms will go up so will oil and do not forget hot oil flows abit better. if nothing not blue then your getting oil . get a better dist may seal up better in the block help not pass so much oil . look at the primer as well

1200 rpm on the drill. What brand of distributors, other than MSD, come with o-rings?

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Originally Posted by jeepman1320

1200 rpm on the drill. What brand of distributors, other than MSD, come with o-rings?

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the Orings are for added pressure for dist gear oiling may help not very much did i test on it but block has to be rework the dist hole in block needs to be rolled i do this in block prep.or will shear O rings. Msd has them cut for O rings you can do it to any dist with a lathe. i tried using a O ring thinking it would help at lower psi the stock O ring form msd did not seal good so went to a metric O rings to feel a better seal to the block i was lucky if i found 1or 2 psi never check oil for push rods i was not worry about that as it was a race engine and had no oil restrictors. engine