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Oil but no pressure!!!

jarredsoon

jarredsoon

Gold Member
I have been racing tta 365 pretty hard this summer, got a best of 11.29 with my new transmission. I was driving around the other night and noticed OP was pretty low at about 10 on the dash gauge. THe car was hot as I was driving with alot of boost. I decided I had better go home so I did. I checked the oil level and it was full.

Tonight I start the car and was gonna change the oil and my cold OP was about 15..... that is not normal for tta 365. It is usually at about 60 when cold and about 22 when hot idle. So I let the car run a few min and then rev'd the engine and OP only went up to 20. I put the trans brake on and loaded the engine and rev'd again and brought the rpm's up and again OP not greater than 20.

So I shut the car off. I am thinking perhaps my oil pick up fell off?? Or maybe my bearings are shot and I have no Oil Pressure?? Or maybe I beat up the oil so much it is very thin now???

I dunno?

What is the recommended next course of action?

I was having a great summer too, UGH!!!

The force is telling me a great expenditure is in my future.
 
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not really any odd nioses, car was running great!!! This summer I was just getting faster and faster at the track and now this!!

Jason where does one send oil for analysis?? I have never done that before.
 
Cut that old oil filter open,if you see metal,lots of it, then you are going to be putting bearings in it.
If the front cover is still an untouched one then maybe you gained some clearance in the pump. That is not the end of the world though,you can do some Earl brown mods and gain oil pressure back....that is if the bearings aren't wiped.

Get the oil pan off and check #2 and #3 mains. Check the pick up screen too.

But since you're going low 11's you're making some real power and these things will happen.

Sorry....



...
 
Well ,...... I have to admit I have been pretty lazy on this one. I unbolted the oil pan only to find you have to raise the motor to get it off. And I stopped there. I did decide to spend a little money on this car since this is the one I plan on taking to Hebron. I called weber racing and placed an order. When I get back from vacation I'll pull the whole motor and find out what went wrong. For now I am just getting ready to upgrade. I will report back when I know more.

Jarred
 
New short block. Stroker with billet roller cam 218/212. I currently have a flat tappet 206/206. Got new front cover and new rjc oil pan. I am hoping to get new tta champion ported heads if all goes well. Hopefully nothing seriously wrong with current motor so I can fix and sell. It's not a tta block anyway. I still have original tta block in my garage. But I figured why not get a brand new one, weber didn't have many left so I just grabbed one up before they're all gone.


Hope all goes well, this will be a major project for me. I just put a stroker in my corvette and that was super fun to do, and now the car is WAAAAY more fun to drive.

Weber should have my block done in a few weeks.
 
Sounds like a solid motor. Girdle or main caps?

I've *heard* that th RJC pan won't fit a tta. Might want to check into that!
 
I sure hope it does, cause it's expensive. I did not get a girdle, speaking with the builder he thought I did not need it unless I was going faster than low tens.
 
The oil pan will now contact the K-member. You're gonna have to play games with the motor mounts. So, look to buy H & R mounts for some adjustability.
 
Hey thanks for the tip on the motor mounts, I didn't know you could get adjustable ones. I'll take any and all advice in this project cause I am still learning.
 
There's another way to have it clear the K-member but I can't remember what it was?
 
Oh, I remembered now....you can shim up the frame side of the motor mounts.
 
Jarred, save your money, save a headache, and send back the RJC oil pan.

Remember your PTE SLIC? Some parts are made for the GN and GN only...
 
Ugh, crap, yeah, Jason I remember, that sucked so bad. Yeah I'm going to call racejace @ rjc and Bill @ Weber tomorrow and consult them on this pan fitment issue.
 
Alright Jason, ..... No more PTE SLIC troubles!!!!

I spoke to Bill at Weber and he assurred me that the pan will fit, and the motor will drop into the car without hitting the crossmember or getting stuck on the trans. He also told me the pan is 1 1/2 inches lower than stock. I don't really mind this as my car is not lowered or anything. I have the deep trans pan and a super low ic shroud anyway and am not driving on gravel or broken roads.

I then called Jason at RJC and inquired about the pan. He told me the same story and also explained to me that if I had a girdle that the pan would not fit. I am not going to run a girdle so this is not an issue. Jason at RJC told me how he modified the pan and such and I want to use it forsure!! I am confident at this point that it will fit. Should it not fit I am sure both Bill and Jason will take care of me.

So far my bolck is in line for machining at weber. I am getting anxious already.

Jarred.
 
jarredsoon said:
Alright Jason, ..... No more PTE SLIC troubles!!!!

I spoke to Bill at Weber and he assurred me that the pan will fit, and the motor will drop into the car without hitting the crossmember or getting stuck on the trans. He also told me the pan is 1 1/2 inches lower than stock. I don't really mind this as my car is not lowered or anything. I have the deep trans pan and a super low ic shroud anyway and am not driving on gravel or broken roads.

I then called Jason at RJC and inquired about the pan. He told me the same story and also explained to me that if I had a girdle that the pan would not fit. I am not going to run a girdle so this is not an issue. Jason at RJC told me how he modified the pan and such and I want to use it forsure!! I am confident at this point that it will fit. Should it not fit I am sure both Bill and Jason will take care of me.

So far my bolck is in line for machining at weber. I am getting anxious already.

Jarred.
Click to expand...

Jarred, thanks for sharing. That is great news for you and the rest of us who might ever install one. I do not know Weber, but I know RJC would stand behind his word so even if something did come up it would be resolved.

Keep us all updated and take pics of the clearance!
 
well dang i just replaced sending unit was leak n like heck , i was 60 lbs cold 40 hot idel now i see 19 lbs hot idel 50 running down the road ,whats up with that . checked part number it appears correct :dumb:
 
Well I have finally gotten around to determining my loss of oil psi. When I last ran this motor oil pressure cold start was about 5 and would not rise with rpm at all really. I removed the oil pan and checked the pick up, it was good. I decided to pull number 2 main cap and inspect the bearing. Upon doing so I found a crack in the block where the main cap stud hole is. The crack extends down farther than I can really see, I put a mirror in there but can't really tell where it ends. I am glad that I bought a whole new motor when this happened and didn't try to fix one small thing at a time. This engine block is not the TTA original but one I bought from Nick Micale at Arizona GN. I still have the original block.

I stopped my investigation here as I assume this is the reason I lost oil psi.

What do you guys think of this?

660de1c9.jpg

69ab2899.jpg
 
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I can't look at the pics right now so I'll check em out tomorrow

that being said, i'm not an engine builder either. However, a cracked block will not cause oil pressure issues, ie the block cracked after it has low oil pressure. A block very very very rarely isthe root cause. Something caused the block to crack. Heat, pressure, part failure or a combo of them. Dig deeper....
 
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It looks like some crap has passed through that bearing and it is worn pretty good.

I can't tell for sure but it looks as though the is some evidence of metal transfer from cap to crank register, in that there was some cap walk. And explaining that cracked register.

Outside of the cracked register,and based on what you've told us, I was expecting a much worse bearing.I'd like to see the thrust surface of that bearing and I'd like to see the lower of #3.
 
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