Question: [MrP] "Got the "Potato" idling in the garage about 800 RPM. Oil pressure sitting about 30#. I rev the engine pressure goes to about 50#. This is good.

Now I'm cruiz'n down the street 2000RPM maybe. Vigorously apply throttle and the oil pressure goes down. The longer I hold the throttle down the lower the oil pressure drops, as the revs build the pressure drops faster all the way to -0#- if I let it.

The car seems to be running fine, but this is a little concerning.

Any suggestions?"

Answers:

[JF] "I had the same problem are you running the Mustang gauges? If you are you can relax. Don't put a new pump and pickup tube on it before you put a mechanical gauge on it. Try running a power and ground to the tach. It seems the tach needs it own source. I wired all the gauges off the same power and ground and as the tach goes up the oil pressure falls."

[MrP] "I'm running S&W gauges. New high volume pump comp pan. The oil feed tube shares duty for the oil sending unit and supercharger feed hose.

Other than and engine swap there have been no changes."

[DD] "your problem sounds a little like the problem that Weendoggy had with his engine that turned out to be a missing plug in the oil galley in the back of the valley under the intake manifold. His engine was brand new and was just one of those things the manufacture missed. I don't know how far you got into your engine replacing things but if you go to http://members.xoom.com/diorio/index.htm and scroll down to the March 2000 entry through the March 18th 2000 entry you might find something."

[JP] "Is it possible that you are pumping all of the oil out of the pan? I've heard of this happening before with a high volume pump."

[ac] is this the first time you started up the motor since you put in the distributor gear? if so did you clean your pump and screen? Because your gear was strip pretty good you could have plug something. try removing your distributor and and run your pump with a drill motor and check your pressure."

[AL] "did you put 8 quarts oil in that thing? It's a 7 quart pan and one for the filter. You checked "in" and "out" directions are correct? Remember Russ helped put it in that day. 

You just changed out the distrib gear? Was it acting like that before the old one went out?
Also, with hi vol oil pumps I was always told to us a comp oil pump drive shaft."

[1892] "Took the MSD distributor out of Hula Girl yesterday just to check it since this seems to be a common problem, particularly with 351's. Sure enough, the gear was worn to 50% on some teeth (after 4700 miles). This, after contacting MSD and Comp Cams BEFORE I ever fired it to make sure I had compatible gears! Yes, I am mad about it but I'm also relieved that I found it before any teeth broke. Soooooo, I've sent emails to both and waiting to see what I get back.

For those that will ask, I have the MSD Billet Distributor with cast iron gear and Comp Cams Roller Cam #35-452-8. Both these companies told me this would work! They were obviously wrong weren't they?"

[MrP] "It seems Al was right there was a French Fry stuck in the oil line. I'm sure it was sabotage. Dave Borden paid Russ $1.16 (Coincidently the price of a bag of fries) to put it in there when we replaced the motor. Oh yea! There was a little tiny nut that fell off a connection on the oil pressure sending unit too, but I really think it was the French Fry.

When I checked the first time I didn't notice the missing nut... It's dark under there.

60 pounds oil pressure again. I'm a happy little spud."

Carb vs EFI

Question: [RU] "I have a FFR EFI kit and the donor engine is a low mileage 93 Mustang 5.0. In talking to some of the local Ford Racing folks they suggest that I might be better off converting to a carburetated engine rather then trying to upgrade or even tune-up the EFI system. He advised that with EFI it either works or it doesn't and unless I am really comfortable with electronics and tinkering with sensors and relays I might be better off scraping the EFI and converting. Any thoughts or recommendations."

Responses:

[5L] "Don't be too fast to rule out EFI. I like both systems equally well but opted for carb--mainly for looks and simplicity...plus I had a built 84HO 302 "lying around". I'm going to switch to 351 this summer, though. EFI isn't really bad to work on at all, especially with the popularity of the ford eecIV efi system and the knowledge base on this forum alone. If you do a search on this subject, you will find quite a few posts. Lots of great pro/con subject matter. Whichever you decide-you'll have a blast!"

[RF] "I used a low mileage 92 donor. I followed the assembly manual suggestions and assembled the FFR. Six weeks later when time came to turn the key on guess what? Every relay and all the Mustang gauges came to life. After a fuel line check for leaks I turned the key to start. It idled just like a new Mustang and with no adjustments of any kind drove it for two years before adding power parts.

The stock engine is a good way to learn how to handle the car. Open track events are the best."

[SG] "You can let these things sit for a long time, and then they just fire right up. My donor had 130K on it and ran perfect, it also sat for over a year before the engine went in. I have yet to hear a story of the computer crapping out and leaving you on the side of the road, yet have seen plenty of Holley's leaking fuel and spitting up fuel for one reason or another. I have unsuccessfully rebuilt of couple of carbs, so many that is why I am biased towards the FI. I wish I could make carbs work better, but I don't want to expend the time and effort to. Maybe someday though."

[al] "Why not have the best of both worlds. EFI with the look of a carb. Check out Western Motor Sports web site. There are others. This is becoming the hot item with the Rod set."

[WP] "If you have a low mileage 93, just put it in and drive. You can put a supercharger in it after learning how to drive it if you want more HP. The EFI is really easy to live with, whether you drive it everyday or once a month."

[1892] "NOTHING like the looks of a carb! Beautiful simplicity! Good enough for the "original"... good enough for me."

[SB] "I have a bit of a fast idle with my efi stock set up. I know the problem, I don't know the solution. The manual explains that there is a tab on the accelerator pedal arm that needs to be bent, otherwise, this problem may occur. No comprehend! I was thinking about slotting the cable bracket on the throttle body to move it in the needed (very short) distance, but if there is a tab to be bent, I missed it. Pictures? Explanation?"

[sv] I was just looking at mine last night. I believe the "tab" is on the bracket with the hinge pin that the accel arm pins to. It's at the top, below the mounting hole."

How do you break-in an engine?

[t50] "Run the crap out of it. These motors don't really require a break-in period although they do loosen up after a while, the low tension rings seat on the first stroke if its built right!"

[dino] "Lube it, make sure the timing is right, and run for 20 minutes at 2000 RPM's....THEN run the piss out of it!"

[TH] "The last new engine I broke in, I was told check for leaks if none GO FOR IT!!"

[my427] "I just got my new 351W crate motor from FMS and here is what the instructions that came with it say:

"WARNING!! THIS ENGINE ASSEMBLY MUST RUN A BREAK-IN BEFORE FULL POWER PASSES ARE ATTEMPTED!! Some "seat-in" time is required for the rings and bearings to polish the high spots and establish adequate running clearances. SVO recommends at least 1/2 hour of run time starting with light loading gradually increased to moderate loading for a minimum break-in. RPM levels should also be gradually increased during the break-in.

FAILURE TO PERFORM AN ENGINE BREAK-IN COULD RESULT IN CATASTROPHIC ENGINE FAILURE!"

It also goes on to say that you should change the oil after the break-in and retorque the heads after the first day of operation."

[WC] "Depends on the motor. More specifically the cam. I've always understood that you can fire up a roller cam motor and run it. If it's a flat tappet cam, you should run it at 2000 RPM or so for 20-30 minutes to break in the cam."

[AM] "Found out the hard way why you should run a flat tappet at least 20 minutes @2000 rpms. Did it for just 5 and proceeded to drive it. Had less power than my brothers tempo. Pulled the intake and found my brand new magnum 280 cam had a modified profile.  Also chewed up the lifters so bad they wouldn't come out of the bores without a pair of vise-grips, blood, sweat, and elbow grease!"

Which Motor Mounts work best?

[Jp] "If you don't want to go solid, get a set of mounts for a convertible. They are much stronger than the standard rubber mounts."

[MM]: "Today I removed the heads and intake from my engine, I saw lots of what looks like carbon, is this normal?"

Answers: 

Moral is, while you are in there, you might as well check the condition of the bearings to be sure about the engine. It only takes a couple minutes."

[MF]: "When your engine is apart like that and a kit that includes Felpro gasket set, Federal Mogul rod & main bearings and a ring set for about $220.00 for a 5.0 engine, how can you not replace the worn parts."

[MM]: "I've read so much about not touching the short block with low miles on corral that it's confusing. After seeing tons of carbon I would think a good cleaning and new rings would be a good idea...so many say leave it alone. My block has 63000 miles, I plan to put on 10k per year."

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