I am also getting ready to build a 514 or so stroker, and thought I had read somewhere about added mechining and oil pump up grades for the 385 blocks. My question is one; if there are any, what modifications can be done. be it mechining or just a better pump. And two; is it nessesary if only stroking to a 514. Thank in advace for all the advice and help.

Sean

 

unless you are planning on winding it up to 7k or higher, the stock oil system is adequate for most rpm applications.

just do the basic mods, like deburring and radiussing all drain back holes in the block and heads, get a good set of bottle brushes and clean out all oil galleries good (just make sure to put the oil galleries plugs back in the correct location, some are different from others and only go in so far). get a good pump, but if getting a high volume pump, make sure you have large enough pan so as not to pump out all the oil at higher rpm's. if you want to a windage tray and oil scraper are also good investments and not very expensive and help hp a bit by keeping the crank from spinning in oil.

check out highflowdynamics.net website. he has some other block oiling mods also that you can do.

rgds
Mike

 

macd, is the pump pulling all the oil out of the pan a common problem with a HV pump and a stock truck oil pan? I'm planning on installing a HV pump in the next week or two..

 

The stock truck pan and HV pump are good to around 7,000 RPM with good drain back. Alot of guys around here run them on pulling trucks. A nice pan upgrade is the 10 quart rear sump pan from a 370 or 429 truck engine.

 

mcdonaldm, Thanks for the link. There was a lot of info in getting better drainback that will definitely come in handy. I'm not going to be getting anywhere close to 7k; I just figured you can't go wrong with lubricating these beasts a little better. High flow shows a mod for getting more oil to the Distributor gear also, is this really that necessary? Do you recommend any certain pump or just any HV?

 

a good brand name like Melling you can't go wrong with. since the pump is a pretty critical part of the engine and royal pain to try and change, i would pay a little more and get a brand name pump. Jon Kaase racing engines (put the words togather and add .com for website) is suppose to have a real nice pump for the 460, expensive, but not much better out there. you can also go with a hardened driveshaft, but i have heard mixed reviews on if it is really necessary or not. but for how cheap they are and how much you have in the engine already, cheap security to upgrade to a hardened oil pump driveshaft. its not going to hurt anything.

stay away from the import stuff, a failed oil pump leads to a destroyed engine pretty quick for roughly a $100 saving.

the distributor mod is not really necessary in your application. a little tricky to do by looks of it and not really worth the hassle unless you are building a hi rev engine.

not sure if you are using a front or rear sump, but if using stock pans, use the truck pans in either front or rear sump with hi volume pumps. they hold 6 qts compared to 5 for car pans (except for cj pan which is also 6) or go with an aftermarket Mildon or Canton pan as extra security.

good luck
Mike

 

Is the Sealed Power pump, part #SLP-224-41144V any good? Or can someone help me find a Melling pump for my 92 F350, 460. Any other tips on installing a pump?

Thanks

 

Sealed Power is part of the Federal Mogul empire. I know their pistons are pretty decent and Federal Mogul has been around for a long time and makes some decent product, so i don't see why thier oil pump shouldn't be pretty decent. website says they at least do quality control inspections on them, so that is a lot better then what most offshore jobber parts get if any inspection on them. it is pretty tough to find anything 100% USA or Canadian made these days. most casting are off-shore, it is more the quality control and inspection donw on these parts that seperate the good parts from the bad parts. and price is usually and pretty good indication of how much if any inspection is performed on the part.

pretty simple to replace a pump. just makes sure you use a gasket between pump and block and pickup and clean off old gasket. and the driveshaft only goes in one way with the washer attached and that is from the bottom, so remeber to install the driveshaft onto the pump and then install the pump. you can still install the driveshaft from the distributor side, but you have to remove the washer and if you pull the distributor the driveshaft can be pulled out of the pump and fall into the oil pan. real pain to fix then.

rgds
Mike