Engine LOOSE ROCKER ARMS!!HELP!

You would be correct. The oil pump was seizing. I have seen new ford pumps seize and twist the shafts until they break
One friend got a new motor out of Ford when the new pump we put in his 390 failed

Dsain90GT said:

Lol no everything just went smoothly for once

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manicmechanic007 said:

You would be correct. The oil pump was seizing. I have seen new ford pumps seize and twist the shafts until they break
One friend got a new motor out of Ford when the new pump we put in his 390 failed

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My research recommended taking apart new oil pumps and blueprinting them... Sand down the edges, make sure everything moves ok, etc... Then reassemble with grease..... Let you know how it turns out...

Oldest questions in the book for the ASE exams are about the oil pump
Shows a guy measuring rotor clearance
That has to be correct along with the end play
Usually just replace them. Not worth the time measuring one out

manicmechanic007 said:

Oldest questions in the book for the ASE exams are about the oil pump
Shows a guy measuring rotor clearance
That has to be correct along with the end play
Usually just replace them. Not worth the time measuring one out

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I never figured out why the first one in my ‘79 302 did that. The clearances were surely plenty loose by 117k miles, and oil pressure was not excessive from a blockage. It had received consistent oil changes so there was nothing nasty in the pan, and I was cruising at 55-65 in OD.
If a brittle valve stem seal had send a chunk towards the pump, I could have accepted that, or if it was a high pressure pump or a blocked filter/relief valve at high RPM. But they were all in good shape. I suspected a spun bearing when I shut it off and coasted to the side of the road. (Pre cell phone, I do not remember how I got to work that day.)

Then the Marshall (now Blueprint) E-7 5.0 long block I put in with a stock style shaft duplicated the trick on it’s first open road test. That might have been from tight clearances. A HD shaft prevented the problem at least long after I eventually sold it.
Am I missing another possible cause, besides an under engineered part?

I lost an oilpump shaft in an engine once....I put 25 rectangular rare earth magnets on the front hump of the oilpan to keep the old oilpump shaft in place and simply put another one..Good Luck with whatever you choose to do........

I also forgot to add that having a real adjustable valvetrain is the way to go..Years back I fought the notion saying I can get the pedestal mounts dialed in using proper length pushrods and shims...Ha!....I did it but my back paid the price doing it in the car....LOL

When youre dialing in a Comp Cams even doing an adjustable valvetrain isnt straight forwards either.

For the pedestal mounts I had to draw lines on the pushrods at zero lift with rockers down tight then loosen the rockers until theres zero lash and make a new mark then measure and it took so long...way longer than I imagined.....LOL

For the adjustable route theres a rock solid technique to setting a Comp Cams brand camshaft...........Here it is...

When the Exhaust Rocker Arm "STARTS" to press down on the "EXHAUST Valve" set the intake rocker arm to zero lash and then set preload.

Rotate engine until the "INTAKE VALVE" goes all the way down and comes almost all of the way "UP" you set the "EXHAUST VALVE to "Zero Lash" then set "Preload""

Do this for every cylinder..

I made a small error in my prior post I put 15 drops of ZDDP oil in each lifter body....Not 35.....Sorry about that mistake...

Heres a small vid I took of my oil pressure when I primed the oil system as I was rotating the engine with a 1/2" ratchet on a cheater bar before fire up...

View: https://vimeo.com/685081582

I was going to say the same thing
If you have some balls and a sense of humor you could just leave it in there (magnets are a thought)
You would want to make sure it made it all the way to the bottom though
I have installed so many stators that I have dropped shafts dozens of times
Usually start by getting pissed then denial all the classic symptoms

General karthief said:

Likely the oil pump shaft has dropped (hopefully) down into the oil pan. Yes you will be pulling the engine. I have heard of people that claim to have fished it out of the oil drain plug hole then used a vacuum line attached to one end of the shaft to insert it back into the pump from the top but I'm suspect of this method.
How mechanically inclined are you?

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Had this happen once. I got the oil pump drive shaft out of the oil pan drain hole using a magnet and a lot four letter words. It took me hours and I felt like I got lucky.