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Re: Oil pressure relief spring/ball

To: Rich Hill <richard.hill@sri.com>, spridgets <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: Oil pressure relief spring/ball
Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 13:23:59 -0500
References: <B4F26FEC.186C%richard.hill@sri.com>
Rich:
I have converted to the ball from the cylindrical plunger on all the
Spridgets I have had after one of my early ones had the pointy end of the
plunger wear and not function. It is an easy mod. On my ' 67 Vintage Race
Midget, we even made the whole thing adjustable so that the oil pressure
can be changed. The adjustable version has a small plate inside, attached
to a bolt thru a threaded hole in the cover. By screwing the bolt head in,
you decrease the length of the spring, increasing its pressure, and, hence,
the oil pressure as well. Jon Stamps Racing sells these already made up.
Call Jon at (770) 832-7471.
The only problem I have had with it in 10 years with the car is that when I
installed the Isuzu starter last month, I had to cut off the bolt head and
slot the end so I could adjust it. The bolt with the head was too long and
interfered with the thicker mounting flange of the new starter. The starter
is awsome, by the way. $90 from Pep Boys and just as good as the $300 one
from the speed shops. 


At 08:12 AM 03/14/2000 -0800, Rich Hill wrote:
>One of the things I want to replace on the 948 is the oil pressure relief
>spring and plunger -- not that I expect it to do much good, but it's so easy
>to do it's worth trying (my warm oil pressure is down around 40 psi, so
>something will probably need to be done soon).
>
>Anyway, at Minimania on Saturday I picked up a spring and ball which they
>seem to prefer to the plunger.  Does anyone have any experiences or
>recommendations with regards to the ball vs. bullet shaped plunger?
>Apparently the ball is less prone to hanging up, but are there any
>advantages of the plunger?  Is there any reason Austin used the plunger
>instead of a ball in the first place?
>
>Thanks,
>Rich Hill
>'60 AH Sprite
>'79 MG Midget
Regards,

Bob Spruck
Sharpsburg, GA
' 67 Midget Vintage Racer
' '72 Midget Weekend Car
4 parts cars in the woods

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