well interesting post as i was the one to purchase this repaired block not knowing it had a hot oil pressure problem,but all is good as it was used and what i was looking for,so after reading i went out and spent some time on the block,,plugged all mains oil passages ,blocked off head feeds,capped off all external places put in a used cam and pressure tested system,as dragula told me has good cam bearings well little soap and water shows i have a problem with rear cam bearing ,removed rear plug and put cam in back side has double the clearance as front bearing, is this the possible issue i would hope as i will rebearing cam and put together a 572 this winter after doing for checking into the block. i hope all works out and am happy to have a long awaited hemi block

Goodluck with that block as there have been plenty of posts on that one about lots of issues. Someone was missing something

The cam bearing is interesting...

I had a number of shops look at it, and none of them found any issues with the block itself, but they did find issues with our oiling system. We suspected this is why we lost a rod in the first place and repaired said oiling issues. But, time and time again, it was checked and nothing in the block was found, yet we still lost pressure only when hot. After months of getting no where, I finally decided to go and just buy another block and see....We put all the same parts in that block, including our oiling system, and no issues other than my carb went a lot leaner with this one.

It sounds like you found more than we did. I paid a lot of money to different shops to look at it. Not to mention my time putting it in and taking it out of the car probably 10 times. I really wanted to believe we had a bad oiling system or somthing not related to the block, but if you found somthing, that's a good thing...We never found it.

Glad Drag gets to enjoy the car finally, great news!

In various projects over the years I have found internal oil passage leak issues before by pressure testing the system without cam or crank getting in the way/messing up line of sight. Have to think outside the box a little to plug the main and cam oil holes without the main components installed, but it can be very helpful to not have those parts in the way. Just throwing the idea out there in case something along those lines is suspected.

If it is something that will only open up when hot, detective work will for sure be much more difficult. Hope someone can figure it out.

I have seen production blocks have weird oiling problems with worn out cam bearings. Jeep 4.0 inline 6 cylinder engines are notorious for loosing oil pressure due to cam bearing wear. You might be on to something.

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Randy i don't know when the cam bearings were replaced,as they don't look appearance wise to be bad but for sure the rear is excessive for clearance will check each one before i remove to see how they are,i will keep things posted if i find anymore

Bearings were in the block when I got it. Hopefully you got it.

As for an update, I haven't done a lot since last year, but it will get some track time this year. Spent the summer tuning the carb, and its a lot closer, but its still not EFI. When I get back to work, I am considering going to a 4500 Sniper for better cold starts and control..I also need to get an intake that gets me enough room to run an air cleaner. So I have the tallest Indy intake they make, but I will switching later this year because I can't fit my air cleaner, so I am open to suggestions. I would like to loose as little horsepower as possible. I have looked at the Eddy dual 4150 intake and the lower Indy 4500 as well as the Indy Arlene intake I am open to some feedback on who has tested what.

Either way I figured i would show off the recently painted valve covers. Super tired of the polished valve covers, so I painted them...

Those valve covers look awesome.

I like the painted covers better...looks nice!

How much room do you need for an air cleaner? FWIW, I can't fit an air cleaner on mine now either w/ the Indy 426-4 manifold and a 5" cowl.
The Indy 426-3 will hurt power substantially.
The Barton is your next best single 4500, but it may not give you enough clearance. It's roughly 11/16" shorter when measured sitting flat on a table.
Barton is 7 and 9/16" tall, Indy 426-4 is 8.25". The Barton manifold is 10 lbs. heavier too.

If you decide to go w/ two carbs, I'd use the Stage V manifold.

I need 2" to 2.5" probably....Or a better fiberglass guy who can make this work as is....

beautiful!

Where did you get the thermostat cover and and ridged radiator "hose"?

Ok, so the thermostat housing is from Meziere....The chrome tubing, I have to confess, is from the local hardware store....Its a 20" undersink J-bend in 1.5".....lol.

I like it for two reasons. It flows good and looks good, but also dissipates heat pretty well....

thank you as i'm having radiator plumbing issues with top hose on big block duster and- i just don't want ugly.

I can’t believe that guys will spend 1000’s or dollars on some items but still run 50 years old flex line technology for radiator lines. Step up to the 21 century and change over to AN lines and Fittings. Come on in, the waters great.

would a black painted piece of tubing dissipate heat as well [or close to] as the chrome piece ? i'm not a "shiny" guy.

pittsburgh, an fittings are good, but see above.

1'm having the dickens making the an fittings work for me due to traveling a short distance with two turns.

Yeah, you have to have some length between fittings......

Just had it out for a cruise today, and she is running really good. I made a couple minor carb changes, and it seemed to like it. Still a tad lean at cruise, but not bad....we will see when the hotter weather gets here.

What AFR is a "tad lean"?
I like at or above 14.8 AFR at light part throttle cruise in high gear below 2200 RPM on 91 octane pump swill

Right around 14.5-14.8.....somtimes it will go to 15.0 which I really don't like. Doesn't seem to bother it, but I do not want to burn anything up. Most of the time she is closer to 14.0....This is why I like efi...Set the AFR and forget about it...