455 Oil Pressure

[1hd-rider]

I just purchased a 1974 Tahiti with a freshly rebuilt 455. I'm getting back into jets after a long hiatus and will hopefully be bringing this one back to a proper state.
The guy I bought it from owns an auto shop and built the engine himself. He said he put in a high volume oil pump. It's got an Edelbrock intake, matching cam and carb. He says the heads were also shaved. The problem I first had was oil being blown out of the dipstick and around the oil filler cap. Now the rear main has blown out. (This engine has probably 2 hours on it since the rebuild) Putting a manual tester on the engine, it shows around 50psi of oil pressure.
I'm about to pull this thing and replace the seal as well as rebuild the Berkeley, but it's not something I really want to do again next month.
Can anyone tell me if you think it may be the high volume pump that's doing this or just positive pressure in the block or.. you tell me. Valve covers are vented (Vent on one side and pcv to the carb on the other)
Any help is greatly appreciated.

[CrdStang]

The oil blowing out of the dipstick tube and breather is likely from "blow by", which is combustion pressure escaping past the piston rings. No oil pump, high volume or otherwise, will cause blow by. There are other possible issues with running a high volume pump with an Olds though, such as a stock oil pan getting sucked dry and all the oil being in the valve covers - not good!
Sounds like your engine aint in such great shape. I'd suggest doing a compression test.

[Floored]

hook up a leakdown tester to see if rings are doing their job. my 455 is 4 years old and doesn't even mist the valve covers from the breathers. you may have been BS"d about total rebuild and maybe just a rering job to off the boat, or maybe I'm just suspicious. also use the 460 ford neoprene rear main seal instead of the olds rope seal

[1hd-rider]

Thanks for the info. I didn't know you could use the 460 seal. I'll definitely be doing that.
Someone else told me that there is a tendancy with the 455 to suck the pan dry, but this could be fixed using "oil restrictors" I've built a few engines, but by no means am I up on everything. What are these, should I use them, where can I get them(or make them) and where do they go?

[BrendellaJet]

You can restrict the olds in a few places. It can be done at the main bearings and the push rods. I would have the heads drilled for drains back into the pan. I think you can make them, but you would be better off just buying them-less headache, unless you have time to spare. Try a search online-(there are a few olds sights that will help you very much.)

[CrdStang]

I got my mains restrictors from Dick Miller Racing. I spoke to Dick about drilling the heads for external oil drains, he said he'd never had any problems with drain back, but then car guys don't go out and run 5000RPM for minutes at a time.
I'm also going to try and get my hands on some restricted pushrods, and modify the oil pan for a bunch more capacity. Hope it works.
http://dickmillerracing.com/

[396_WAYS_TO_SPIT]

I run oil restricted pushrods and my olds is fine. I have no other restrictors in my mill. yes they do work for some people BUT if the motor really needed them then why didnt they restrict the block from the factory?? Not trying to argue just asking a logical question. i dont have any problems with my motor. I ran the restricted pushrods just to be safe. "oldschool trick" is to buy some pipecleaners" the little thin pieces of metal that people use around christmans time with different color velvet on them". Put them into your stock pushrods and that will restrict the oil to the top and its inexspensive.I learned this from a old timer My pushrods were $200 online.
just my little ole' 2 pennies
396

[GlastronGuy]

They didn't restrict them from the factory because they were designed to be run in cars.

[sleekvino]

My Olds engine has a Melling high volume oil pump and also a high volume spring from Mondello. It puts out @ 65 lbs of pressure and doesn't leak at all. My block is restricted, cam bearings as well. The reason you restrict an Olds is because you need to try to keep most of the oil in the pan and you need a 10 qt pan.

[BrendellaJet]

Originally posted by 396_WAYS_TO_SPIT
I run oil restricted pushrods and my olds is fine. I have no other restrictors in my mill. yes they do work for some people BUT if the motor really needed them then why didnt they restrict the block from the factory??
One could use the same logic and say the same thing about the push rods...