The reason that high volume oil pumps eat dist gears is that the cam gear
in a Buick is overhung from the bearing with no support. Take your high
volume pump pushing 50wt goo at 70psi with the cam trying to lift those big
honkin' valve springs that you found in the Summit catalog. How tight do
you suppose that timing chain is? Or was until the front cam bearing went
away. Now the front of the cam is bending like grandpa pre-Viagra and the
cam and dizzy gears no longer mesh fully. Partial tooth contact and
minimal lubrication out there and that dizzy gear is history. Some smart
engineer saved your ass when he figured to make the dizzy gear softer than
the cam gear so you don't have to change cams as often as the easy to swap
dizzy gear.
In our Buicks we use the high volume Mellings pump kit which is a set of
455 gears with a 1/4 inch spacer plate. We use the big pickup and drill
the suction and pressure passages in the block. I also use the Metric V-6
base with a stock bypass. Oil pressure is 35 hot idle with a 35k mile
engine and 55 pounds at every speed above that. That is plenty of pressure
in a unblown, non-nitrous engine. This same oil system is used in T-type
turbo V-6s and GN's. The GM guys did not pay many warrantee claims for
cranks either.
For oil we break them in on 10-30 Valvoline or Castrol and switch to 10-40
Durablend when the heat wave hits. The fall oil change is back to 10-30.
Use any good oil and change often is probably the best advice.
As for Smokey Yunick? Check some of the stuff he did on the Buick Indy
project, some of which will work on 215's and Rovers. The guy has done it
all. I'm a ballsy guy but second guessing the Guru is beyond me......
Jack Emery
Glenburn Maine
207-884-8523
'67 MGB V-8
'75 MGB V-8
'80 TR7 v-6
various other hot rods
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