And to torque, I've had plenty of chevys where I've adjusted valve lash and oil was spilling the hole time, could it be cause oil is cold? I don't know. But its not pouring out, that's why they make rocker oil deflectors, lol.

 

Well yes, that's true too, I forgot that one. That point should have been #6 on the laundry list in my earlier post (post #10).

 

So is the gauge useless at this point? Or should I get one? Or do u think I may have a blockage?

 

No - Yes - Maybe

 

It is possible to manufacture a accurate Sending unit/in dash gage. It just the factory ones are crap. I would trust a cheap Harbor Freight mechanical gage 10 times more than a stock gage. The reason I say this is because 90%+ of the cars that show up at the dealer with warranty “low” oil pressure end up being a gage issue. These gages do not get better with age. If you buy a cheap mechanic gage one trick I do is check it with compressed air. If I am using and unknown gage I will crank my shop air down to 40PSI and put the shop air into the gage and see if it reads near 40 PSI.

I am a little surprised your valves are not louder but other than that your motor sounds just like a low oil pressure engine (even in the bottom end. (Course that is just based on the video) If you ran the motor until is shut down due to low oil pressure it is not going to be pretty inside. Even if you fixed the pressure issue the pistons could be cracked at the ring land or at the wrist pin. Not to mention all the metal flowing through the bearings. Is it possible a new oil pump could keep the motor going a little while? Yes, is it possible the motor will seize up an hour after you fix the oil pressure issue? Yes.

If it was mine I would check the pressure and confirm a low reading near the filter, pull the dip stick and look for shinny in the oil. If it is all sparkly start looking for another motor. Do not put any real money into that motor.

Engine Oil Pressure Test Kit

 

Well milky, shiney, over full oil ain't good. Wasn't that full before has to be gas, maybe coolant. I'm not even going to hook this gauge up, guess its time for a rebuild.

 

absolutely get a gauge and take a reading. They are inexpensive and cheaper than having a flat bed take the car to a shop just to take a reading.

I'm going to start a thread in the garage/shop section asking everyone to post what they must have in their tool box beyond the usual suspects and keep it under $100 total for everything

you'll be surprised at the list you're going to see

 

Uh-oh! Let the engine set for a while, if it hasn't already. Then pull the oil pan drain plug and let some come out into a drain pan, then cork it up again. See what comes out first, oil floats on water/coolant.

 

Smells like fuel. And its pouring out the front main seal, but I will let it sit. Metal wasn't just slight it was very obvious. I checked this the other night and it wasn't over full or milky. Had to have happened with my short test time.

And to torque* I have the usual 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 and even some 3/4 inch sockets. I'm a diesel mech, my problem is I leave tools at shop and have to drive or remember to bring things home that night of work just so I can work on my car. Our shop does supply some heavy duty stuff. But id rather drive down to Autozone and buy another tool rather than drive 15 to work. I thought there might have been a oil pressure gauge set at oreillys or something but they don't sell a kit so I just bought some extra fittings along with that gauge.

My plans were to hold out till spring/summer to swap my motor in, this caprice motor was supposed to be a 4-5 month temporary thing. Not less than a month. I have the original lt1 apart and at shop getting cleaned. And if band aiding this motor was going to make it last till then so be it.
My hopes were a 35o or so horse motor. Nothing radical, but built well enough to hold a super charger or a big hx 55 turbo or something lol. I don't mind the swapping I actually enjoy that, I picked up the happy hooker from tpi and it was pretty great.
BUT as luck has it, back to the drawing board.

 

one month is all that you got? That's the roll of the dice that we all take with used stuff

My tool thread (which i created btw) is for all of us to toss out what we put into our box for $100 and might not even be on the list of many. I limited it to $100 so we focus on the must-haves vs nice-to-haves. Feel free to jump in and it assumes that you have wrenches and sockets etc.

Do you still have your old engine? Can that be rebuilt? Around where I live I have not seen a hit on a decent LT1 engine within 500 miles of me for 6 months now. I always look to see if anyone yanked one with mods and is looking to unload it.