Recently I posted about having problems installing my distributor. Turned out the shaft wouldn't engage the oil pump. I pulled the pump and the dist. drive shaft and the shaft looks fine, but it will not go into the pump. I looked at everything with a 10x magnifying glass and it looks fine I had a new Melling's M-63HV pump sitting on the shelf and tried that and the dist. shaft fits fine Is there any reasons why a high volume pump shouldn't be used on a relatively stock 440

I look at the time spent at high RPM vs the pan capacity.

Stock pan at a lot of running at 5,000rpm, be careful!

The slot wont engage into the pump???????????????
Yes--there are several reasons why an HV pump isn't a good idea on a stock build, but the distributor shaft/intermediate shaft/pump should all engage---unless the intermediate shaft is starting to twist...

sucking the pan dry, lol.

Yet another chevyish

If you are running tight bearing clearances, all a HV pump does is pump more oil through the pump relief valve. That additional oil flow has to go somewhere.

Why does everyone want a HV oil pump?

Hello Over 26 years of engine building I have aways put HV pumps on all engine ! not any trouble with any of them! On the street or on the track.I have them on my Hemi and our SixPack and they get run hard all of the time .Thanks

in your case none. Take it apart & clean it & check its' clearances & run it. eats a slight bit of HP/slightly stressed the hex but that's a non issue. If you had EXTENSIVE oiling mods starting with 1/8" under the pickup to all the way thru the system/loose clearances/high rpm then you'd wanna purchase a hi vol/hi psi or add a high psi spring or shim the regular spring in a hi vol pump & if not a regular sealed power pump is cheap/adwquate but you have the hi vol in hand so I'd say go ahead & finish & get the pan buttoned up & you'll be ready to move on to the next issue. EDIT I feel that a pan cannot get sucked dry and reports of that (low psi/fried journals} are due to especially inadequate pickup/pan clearance/lack of oiling passage mods/inadequate journal clearances

Hey Back in the day I never had money to buy the deep pans.All of the 440s and the 383 had stock pans. Just in the last few years I have put some deep pans on by owners request.We even had some two mile runs on the interstate with them chevys and fords and the oil pans never ran dry . I have always ran Melling pumps(M63HV) on Big Blocks and clevite 77 full groove Bearings.

I guess if you're using stock heads the oil would drain back easier with the huge openings in the heads. The aftermarket Stealth and Edelbrock heads don't have that, so it's easy to suck the pan dry when running it hard with an HV oil pump.

Got a 73 Duster 340..HV pump..stock oil pan...Eddy heads...been driving it for 6 yrs...been down the drag strip about 20 times...

never sucked the pan dry....

I have a Moroso 7 quart deep pan, so running out of oil won't be a problem. The high volume pump that I had on the shelf is a Mellings M-63HV It's body/impeller is 1/4" taller than a stock pump. I suppose the HV pump will rob a bit of power, but I was wondering if it would cause any other problem

I have always run an HV pump on everything, SB and BB, all with stock pans. Even ran one on a 360 that turned 7500rpm with a stock pan, and ran 10.60s. Never a problem with sucking the pan dry

With the HV pump an improved oil pump driveshaft is recommended for the higher load. The hex is hardened, the taper to the hex is radiused and the gear is pinned. Though nor common, the HV pump can fail the standard shaft.

As long as you have the correct shaft the only drawback is you loose one or two HP. I use one on a B engine with full groove bearings and performance clearances. It helps keep the hot oil pressure at idle reasonable with that setup.

Here is another user of HV pumps for many years, street, strip, stock or deep pans and never had a problem with pans being sucked out of oil. If it happens there is more than likely other problems not allowing proper oil drain back.

Is it safe to run a bronze distributor drive with a HV pump? This will be a full groove main, roller cam setup. Thanks

i've always used a high volume oil pump on my 440s. i also use the Milodon 7qt low profile oil pan. never had any issues. to take it one step further. i had the pickup tube hole drilled and tapped for the 1/2" hemi pickup tube. there is always plenty of oil getting to where it needs to be