High Volume Oil Pump Worth It?

krazedstang

15 Year Member
Mar 23, 2009
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Probably buying a ProCharger kit from a friend for a good price, he's decided to go turbo. It is NOT a self contained unit, would it be worth it to get a high volume oil pump? or just stick with the stocker? Engine is out of the car already and I'd have to tap the oil pan anyways.
Thanks
 
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I think the high volume mellings pump is a good idea. NOT a high pressure one though. There have been a few reported failures lately(on the mellings units) on the interwebz...not sure if they were defective or installed incorrectly. Fwiw I'm installing one.
 
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Watch pan clearance if you are using a stock pan. The hv pump can make contact with the pan, just need to give it a love tap.

Joe
 
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I think the high volume mellings pump is a good idea. NOT a high pressure one though. There have been a few reported failures lately(on the mellings units) on the interwebz...not sure if they were defective or installed incorrectly. Fwiw I'm installing one.
That is the one I was looking at.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
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As stated, the pump and the pan front sump play kissy face with each other. The ball end of a ball peen hammer is the recommended adjustment tool. IRC, the bolts that hold the pump together are the prime culprits. Hammer away until you have the needed clearance. Then heat the pan with a propane torch until it so hot that it changes color and then let it cool very slowly. That will relieve the stress induced by hammering on the pan to clearance the pump.
 
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I can't think of a single reason to run one on anything street driven. I don't imagine it will hurt anything though. If anything, it might cause a bit more oil windage. :shrug:

The oil necessary for the blower is more or a less an oil bath with the added benefit of a cooling system. More volume isn't much of a consideration unless talking total volume.
 
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Geez,...and I thought that I'd be late to the party.

A HVP, and a 5/16 oil pump drive are not the happiest of marriages. Firstly, an oil pump in stock configuration moves a lot of oil. The little "allen wrench shaft" that is a windsor oil pump drive is already a weak link as it is when asked just to pump oil at 5000 RPM. When you add up all of the restrictions that are in a typical engine oiling system, moving a SAE 30 wt oil through it at high RPM is extremely hard on that little weanie shaft.

Now add a high volume pump into the equation. Say it with me.......TWWIIIISSSSTTTTTTT!


Boom.

One of the first things a cam grinder will ask when you have to put a bronze gear on a distributor because you decided to use a billet core roller cam is what kind of pump you are using. They want to be sure that the pump is stock or HP, not HV because the torque required to drive a HV pump will dramatically add to the wear the gear is subjected to.

That, and the fact that just having to pump all of that oil uses power.
 
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Having tried both the hv Melling unit and a stock one on the next rebuild, I would stay with a standard pump. The hjv unit, with 10 w 40 oil, maxed out my oil pressure gage on startup, and did not drop much when warm. Dropped to 10 w 30 oil for some relief.

The standard one works just fine.

My first Mustang, a 65 with a 260 v8 broke the oil pump drive the first day I owned it.
 
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I think the biggest question is, is your engine out of your car right now, or are you installing this with the engine still in the car? No fricken way I would ever try and install another oil pump with the engine still in the car. Having a high volume on my own car, I would just say go ahead and stick with the standard volume pump.

To the other topic brought up, I always install a hardened pump shaft with a high volume pump.

Kurt
 
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I think the biggest question is, is your engine out of your car right now, or are you installing this with the engine still in the car? No fricken way I would ever try and install another oil pump with the engine still in the car. Having a high volume on my own car, I would just say go ahead and stick with the standard volume pump.

To the other topic brought up, I always install a hardened pump shaft with a high volume pump.

Kurt

The engine is currently out of the car and on an engine stand. If I do decided to go with the high volume I'll get a hardened shaft as well, or maybe I'll just look at getting a hardened shaft no matter the route I go.
 
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The engine is currently out of the car and on an engine stand. If I do decided to go with the high volume I'll get a hardened shaft as well, or maybe I'll just look at getting a hardened shaft no matter the route I go.

Hardened shaft sure can't hurt. The only down side to the hardened Motorsport shaft I bought was that the keeper was not pressed on to the shaft when I got it, and it was a total bitch to put on. The standard volume Melling comes with the keeper already installed on the shaft. On a side note, if you are doing a main girdle, notching the oil pump is challenging. Took me 3 oil pumps the first time I did it.

To be honest with you, it probably won't make a lick of difference which pump you use.

Kurt
 
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Don't run the HV. Get the hardened shaft while the motor is out. The extra volume is intended mostly to move that extra oil into larger clearances from my understanding. In fact on a stock type motor its trying to force so much oil in at once it can actually starve the bearings by cramming extra oil in a place it just wont go. My 363 has a standard Melling in it with the vortech. 62 psi cold. 35 ish hot at at idle and 50-55 cruising.
 
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I'll tend to agree with the crowd here except for the hardened shaft. It's a preference call, but I had a couple of experiences that make me lean that way. Oil pump failures are few and far between.. Most people have never seen one. I've had two. From my observation, that little skinny drive shaft is engineered to be the weak link. I. E. - in one instance i had a stock drive rod. It twisted off when the pump locked up and didn't damage anything else. I lost oil pressure, killed it, tore it down, fixed it. The hardened drive shaft tore up all kinds of crap when that pump failed. Distributor and cam gears both ruined. Lots of carnage. So, just my .02... I run standard pumps and standard shafts in all of my engines after those episodes.
 
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I'll tend to agree with the crowd here except for the hardened shaft. It's a preference call, but I had a couple of experiences that make me lean that way. Oil pump failures are few and far between.. Most people have never seen one. I've had two. From my observation, that little skinny drive shaft is engineered to be the weak link. I. E. - in one instance i had a stock drive rod. It twisted off when the pump locked up and didn't damage anything else. I lost oil pressure, killed it, tore it down, fixed it. The hardened drive shaft tore up all kinds of crap when that pump failed. Distributor and cam gears both ruined. Lots of carnage. So, just my .02... I run standard pumps and standard shafts in all of my engines after those episodes.

That does make a lot of sense.
 
That is a very good point. Pretty much the only time the shaft fails is when a piece of crap gets in the oil pump and locks it up. By that point you are in it for a new pump and shaft anyway.

Kurt
 
That is a very good point. Pretty much the only time the shaft fails is when a piece of crap gets in the oil pump and locks it up. By that point you are in it for a new pump and shaft anyway.

Kurt

And that is exactly what happened. Trash in the oil pump. The first time was a piece of plastic. In 1970, ford used a plastic upper timing chain gear. By 1988 it had broken down enough to fall apart little by little and find it's way through the pickup and into the pump. The second time was a stray unidentified piece of metal. It doesn't take much to stop that pump in it's tracks. The screen on both pickups had stretched open spots that allowed the junk in. Another thing to inspect and replace on a build for sure.
 
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