I have a gsr in my crx with an SC61 and an oil cooler. Oil pressure is still within spec (barely) and I want to get a new pump and possibly shim it. With the oil cooler and turbo I get about 10psi at idle and no more than 60psi, ~50 at 3krpm. I would like to get it back to 20psi at idle and 70-80psi at full throttle like it was when it was just a stock motor. Any advice?

If I decide to shim it, is there a link providing instruction or is it simple? I've never done it before and don't know what exactly to do.

Thanks.

 

I dont think shimming it will help in your case because shimming it just increases the maximum pressure before the pressure pushes the relief open and the pressure levels off. This probably occurs around 80 psi or whatever the max was you saw before, if you were to shim it the pump would be capable to go higher than 80 but its still not going to flow anymore so you will still see the same pressure. You need to get a pump that actually flows more.

 

ive read stories about guys with ls vtec shimming their ls pumps and getting more at idle and at full throttle?? i thought it worked like v8 pumps, not like you said about the pressure relief.

 

no

 

i hate everything.

what do i have to do to get some more oil pressure?


Modified by ham at 8:10 AM 11/7/2005

 

good question. i would also like to know.

 

use different weight oil to gain a minimal increase

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ham &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i hate everything.

what do i have to do to get some more oil pressure?


Modified by ham at 8:10 AM 11/7/2005</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sounds like your oil cooler is restrictive. What size lines do you have feeding it? IMO, you want 1/2 NPT fittings on stuff like spin-on adaptors and -10 AN lines at a minimum for an oil cooler. A sandwich plate with 3/8 NPT fittings is way too small for a VTEC engine. You may get some pressure back with thicker oil, but flow is just as important as pressure.

 

My manual says its supposed to be 10psi at idle...*i think*

pretty sure i just checked this the other day while assembling my motor

and that pressure sounds fine...as long as vtec still engages, its all good

 

the minimum spec is 10 at idle and 50 at 3k rpm but its NORMALLY 20psi at idle and 70-80 at 3k rpm. i tried using 10w-40 once and it didnt make a difference, also took too long to get pressure on a cold start, i dont like that. My oil cooler lines are 1/2" NPT and I thought it was just a normal thing to lose some pressure with an oil cooler. Its using a ford style oil filter too.

I just dont like being at the minimum spec. My gauge has that first needle at 10 which looks like 0 and it freaks me out. All my other motors were always 15-20psi at idle.

Im also thinking I have some wear on my oil pump gear from the N1 pulley that was on the motor when i got it. Its not on there now but it may have done some damage

 

you could get a type-r oil pump, from my understanding it is better, then send it to endyne for porting and whatever they do lol, i'm sure that should help out alot

 

nfn15037 is right.... the 3/8 line on the sandwich plate is too small for an oil cooler. do what im doing.... i have the ge plate for my ls/vtec but im getting an external filter relocator with an oil cooler.... all 10-an lines and shouldnt be that restrictive


. you could take off the pump and port and radius the outlet and pickup holes... would help a little bit

 

any oil cooler is going to give you pressure drop....run a factory oil cooler. oil pressure may be much more valuable then oil tempature ..unless the oil temps are skyrocketing you should take the cooler off

the only other way is to run tighter bearing clearences...also endyn modifies oil pumps look at there site

 

I run a Mocal 25 row cooler and remote filter plumbed with -10 lines and I lost 1 PSI at idle and zero at cruise. My oil pump outlet is ported and radiused like wantboost mentioned and the relief spring is shimmed .050". I would suggest swapping the oil pump out as the N1 pulley is a known pump-killer. For the few hours labor and the $100 for a new P72 pump it is cheap insurance.

Hey you say you run 1/2 hoses, but what size are the outlets on the sandwhch plate? You need to consider the smallest opening in the system when thinking about fluid flow, and the only sandwich plate available for Hondas have 3/8 NPT ports.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nfn15037 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I run a Mocal 25 row cooler and remote filter plumbed with -10 lines and I lost 1 PSI at idle and zero at cruise. My oil pump outlet is ported and radiused like wantboost mentioned and the relief spring is shimmed .050". I would suggest swapping the oil pump out as the N1 pulley is a known pump-killer. For the few hours labor and the $100 for a new P72 pump it is cheap insurance.

Hey you say you run 1/2 hoses, but what size are the outlets on the sandwhch plate? You need to consider the smallest opening in the system when thinking about fluid flow, and the only sandwich plate available for Hondas have 3/8 NPT ports.</TD></TR></TABLE>

youre right, the sandwich ports are 3/8". im gonna just use the stock one ( i dont road race or anything ) and get a k series filter and a new oil pump, i may send it out to endyne.

 

I heard that all OBD-2 B-series oil pumps are the same, of course I leaned this after I bought my great "Type-R" oil pump on ebay after my LS one shattered. Its on and looks fine, but Im not done with everything yet so I havent started it up yet to see how my oil pressure is. Heres my old one, just incase youre thinking about getting a cheap aluminum crank pulley....

 

sandwich plate is off, k series oil filter is on with castrol gtx 10w-30. i just noticed after driving over 30min oil pressure drops a little below 10psi at idle and is 40-45psi at 3krpm and not over 60psi. Oil pressure is fine until I drive and get it all hot. im stressing out!

 

Older motor = looser bearing clearences = less oil pressure.

Switch to a 20W-50W motor oil and see how that effects your oil pressure. Mobil One makes a 20w 50w synthetic. Don't stress out about it. Nothing you can do unless you run a tighter bearing clearence.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by asubennett &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Older motor = looser bearing clearences = less oil pressure.

Switch to a 20W-50W motor oil and see how that effects your oil pressure. Mobil One makes a 20w 50w synthetic. Don't stress out about it. Nothing you can do unless you run a tighter bearing clearence.</TD></TR></TABLE>

im kindof in denial about my bearing clearances, it has low miles... but then again it had an N1 pulley that could have done some damage to both. My pressure is fine until I get that turbo cooking.

 

Cold oil is thicker by nature just like syrup when it is cold versus hot. Once it heats up and thins out your pressure is dropping.

What clearences did you use when you built the motor?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by asubennett &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Cold oil is thicker by nature just like syrup when it is cold versus hot. Once it heats up and thins out your pressure is dropping.

What clearences did you use when you built the motor?</TD></TR></TABLE>

its a stock gsr motor.

 

so change the oil pump and while you have the pan off take a look at your bearings to check for wear...

thicker oil is not the solution

 

Not the solution but an effective band aid. If your building a motor that is going to produce lots of torque you set the rod bearing clearence loose and run thicker motor oil to compensate for the resulting pressure drop.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by D@nnY &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so change the oil pump and while you have the pan off take a look at your bearings to check for wear...

thicker oil is not the solution</TD></TR></TABLE>

its ok to retoruqe main and rod caps without replacing anything?

 

sometimes the oil pan can get dented ever so slightly it looks pretty ok to the eye, BUT the oil pickup is very near the bottom of the pan. If the pan gets dented at all, it could and does affect oil pressure.

I have the same situations 10psi @ idle, 50psi max at WOT.

I have oil cooler and oil filter relocater. All lines are as large as possible.