Subject: Andy Venable's Engine Failure
From: Paul
Date: 3/30/2001, 3:32 PM

Ken Powell wrote:

Paul,
I have attached a msg from George Graham concerning this failure
so everyone on this list will know what happened.  Leon commented
that this was probably caused by a calapse (sp?) of the oil
pickup hose.  Leon, how about sending your excellent response on
this issue to Paul's list.

Ken Powell


On Tue, 27 Mar 2001, Lynne Venable wrote:

Dear George,
Finally got some word on what happened to our
engine. Called Dave Atkins
 about probable cause of seizure. He indicated that
all the bearings showed
 signs of long term oil starvation. The most likely
cause was how the engine
 was set up and the location of the oil tank. Again
remind that our engine
was rotated 90 degrees and the oil tank was located
approx. 18 in. below
 the oil pick-up port in the engine. Apparently
what has been occurring is
 a small time delay after the engine was
started before sufficient
pressure was built up to lubricate the bearings. I
did notice on average that
 it took 10 to 15 seconds after start up for
pressure to build up. There was
 no damage to the oil pump system. So conclusion was
probably the way it was
 set up. I think if the engine were installed
normally and it is building up
 pressure right away after start up that it would
probably be OK.</P>

I notice the same thing in my new Ford modular V8 engine in the Cougar.
The oil pump is concentric with the crankshaft unlike the old 
Ford & Chev V8's where it is in the bottom of the oil pan immersed in oil
all the time. It sometimes takes 30
seconds for the oil pressure to build up. 

Thanks for uploading this Ken.

Paul Lamar
 
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