BB Oil mods... one more time!!!

[BrianShaughnessy]

  My "spare" 69 440 HP2 is sitting in the back of the jeep for some reason     

  The latest I've heard is that some people aren't even doing the pickup mods for fear of breaking the block.     But anyway... What Would You Do?   Pickup?   Mains to cam?    The guy that normally does my boring doesn't like to mess with 1/2" oil pickup mods.    I'm probably on my own.

[BrianShaughnessy]

Old post I found...   discuss

This piece was written by Herb McC & is at least 10 years old-is it still good information? He was kind enough to answer oiling questions over the phone when I was rebuilding my small block stroker in the early '90s, and sent me oiling info on both small blocks and B/RB/Hemi engines. He's a pretty cool guy in my book.

OIL SYSTEMS B-RB-HEMI

McCandless Performance has many years of experience and has spent many hours on the Chrysler B-RB-Hemi motors. We have put together a list of suggested improvements for your oil system which can be made at little or no cost to you. It is very important that you follow these instructions exactly as they are described to you in the following report. Please be sure and call us if you have any questions at all on the procedures that are mentioned.

Remove all five main caps. With an 8-10" 9/32 drill bit drill the oil passages from the top of the main saddle to the lifter galley on the passenger side of the block to 9/32. Do not drill passages to the cam. Do not restrict the oil to the rockers. If you run a solid or roller lifter camshaft you should cut oil off to the lifters on the drivers side of the block. This can be done by following these instructions.

On the rear of the block, remove the pipe plug on the drivers side of the block next to the camshaft. You will need a 19/32 freeze plug. Install the 19/32 plug into the oil galley on the drivers side of the block. Drive the plug into the block about 1 1/4 inches or until you can see the passage coming across the back of the block that feeds the oil to the drivers side galley. Clean and install pipe plug. Oil is now cut off to the lifters on the drivers side of the block. The only way to cut oil off to the passenger side is by installing sleeves in each lifter.

In a street motor we highly recommend a Milodon #30930 pan and a street Hemi size pickup (1/2 inch pipe). The block must be re-drilled and tapped to 1/2" pipe. There is a standard size pickup available for this pan but why put a high volume oil pump on the motor and not increase the oil available to the pump? Once all passages are drilled, completely clean the block very thoroughly. We use a Milodon #34010 brush kit to clean all the oil passages and it works very well.

On a race motor the only system that we recommend is the Milodon dual line system. This has been the standard of the industry system on the motors for years. The dual line Milodon is very expensive but not near as costly as the price to replace a good race motor. Fix it right the first time.

We do not recommend using a stock pan that has been deepened. This type of pan runs out of oil under acceleration and deceleration. This can cause spun bearings and broken rods and also causes a costly repair bill.

[John_Kunkel]

Like all things, a little common sense goes a long way. If you are considering drilling the pickup to 1/2" take into consideration the configuration of the block. Some blocks have core shift that prevents safely drilling the block, if that's the case forget that mod.

On blocks with thin pickup bosses, some have enlarged the hole more towords the outside of the block; this usually requires a special drill jig or a milling machine.

[firefighter3931]

The need for the 1/2in pickup modification depends a lot on the intended use of the engine. If the motor is gonna be spun up into the 7000 rpm range then it's not a bad idea to increase the volume. If it's a mostly street build with a 6000-6500 rpm redline than you will be fine with the 3/8 pickup. Some guys like to groove the #4 cam bearing for increased top end oiling while others try to restrict it as mentioned in the McCandless article 

A HV pump with a properly baffled (6+qt) oilpan + windage tray with descent drainback is as important as anything else, inmo. 



Ron

[BrianShaughnessy]

   Took it to shop nite - the mostly weekly excuse for my chebby friends to exchange sumdayimagunnas.    Got out the drills and taps and did the pickup mod anyway.    It came out fine.
   The halfazz plan is just a 500ish short block with 440source stuff to bolt in place of the 440.  6K max with a smallish solid cam running pump gas with the 6 pack / Eddy's I already have.