Lots of good advise here, Randy . I agree with Sean about opening up the feeo above the mains to 17/64" and doing the radius at the sharp 90 degree turn at the pick-up. Ask Shawn about grooving the cam journal or cam bearing for full time oiling up top to see if it is worth it for your application.

Randy

Thanks,Raff!...Sean..Randy,I'll ask Sean about the procedures you mention,when I drop off my seal holder,and connecting rods. Russ,my pump was originally installed new,back in 2000. I'll give it a good looking-over! BTW....ALWAYS had good pressure..even with engine hot(200 deg.)it wouldn't drop less than 30lbs. at idle.

Randy I forgot I posted this a long time ago, but here is an example of some of the work in the area you were asking about, both the pump and the block.

It will help the oil flow slightly and costs nothing but some time, as long as you have the tools

http://www.moparts.org/Tech/Archive/bb/51.html

Definitely have your guy doing the work (or yourself) ream out the passage between the galley and the mains too, to make the passage the same size all the way through it.
A good reamer size to use is in Chuck Senatore's book.

It's probably worth considering reaming the hole to #4 slightly larger than the rest, because the valvetrain robs that journal of oil......I don't know anyone who does that with every build, but it is something to think about....

Really don't think you "have to" do any of this... truthfully you could leave it alone but these kind of detailed changes are nice improvements to make and cheap insurance.

My 400 is tapped to 1/2" NPTF and I did it myself at home, it is not horribly bad to do by hand if a person uses a tapered reamer before tapping the hole. Lacking the tapered reamer, the force required to turn the tap is much higher which creates a greater chance of breaking the iron.

There's a statement up the page that is just plain WRONG.

Liquid flowing in a tube is NOT absolutely limited by the smallest hole it has to go through.

Pressure at one end of a system is converted into flow according to Bernoulli's equation. Flow restriction in the pipe is due to friction between pipe wall and the liquid. This friction decreases the fluid's available energy as it goes along the pipe.

When the fluid goes through a restriction some of the energy that is in the form of pressure turns into kinetic energy to speed up the liquid as it flows past the restriction. In the restriction, where the fluid is speeded up, the fluid will have less pressure. This is also called the Venturi effect or Bernoulli effect. This is what "pulls" gasoline into the carb airstream through the boosters and jets.

As the liquid passes the restriction it slows down and the kinetic energy turns into pressure energy again.

The downside to this speeding up and slowing down is that some energy is lost turning the pressure into velocity and then back again. So there is less available energy to push the fluid through the line. The restriction slows flow because it wastes the fluid's energy. It is NOT because it is an absolute limiter of flow.

R.

And the higher velocity will increase friction (resulting in energy loss) in the smaller section. And as I recall, that loss is proportional to the square of the velocity, so it really kills things... f L/D V^2/2g

Now we are talkin A lot has to do with the len of the restriction, If its short there is not much change in flow volume, the larger pick up 1/2 from 3/8 will flow a lot more oil than ya think, If you need that much flow is another story, Hey Mike... ... can you define suck for me..

"Hey,Mike...can ya' define suck for me?"