So a while back I fitted a new oil pressure line, and the gauge still didn't move off zero. I replaced the gauge, same result. The oil line appeared to be perfectly clean on the gauge end, so I removed it to find this on the banjo end:

Poked a hole in that, cleaned out with brake cleaner, confirmed brake cleaner flows from one end to the other. Refitted and still no reading.

Removed the bolt and found nothing similar in my oil pressure test kit, so cranked the engine over with the bolt still removed. Oil does flow, but how much should I expect?

Well, it's not the flow that matters, only the pressure :| do you have a pressure test gauge you can hook up?

Hmm my only experience with seeing how much oil comes out was when we missed putting the pressure switch back in the freshly rebuilt engine for @PaddlerEd.

From what I recall in that case visually quite a lot of oil came out with only a few rotations of the engine.

Perhaps a simple test in the absence of another known working guage would be to reattach the line with the banjo only lightly tightened, start the engine and crack the banjo undone slightly. Should he pretty evident if there is any real pressure there. Bit of a mess to clean up if there is!

    I forgot about that! Yes, the van left its mark at Casa del tentacle.

    Thread might a Whitworth which is why finding things for it is fun, or is it UNF/UNC?

    I do have a test gauge but no suitable fitting in it, and I haven't had any luck finding out what thread it is.

    I get the feeling I'll have to rebuild the engine. Really didn't want to have to do that.

      VolvoHordz

      Hmm my only experience with seeing how much oil comes out was when we missed putting the pressure switch back in the freshly rebuilt engine for @PaddlerEd.

      From what I recall in that case visually quite a lot of oil came out with only a few rotations of the engine.

      Perhaps a simple test in the absence of another known working guage would be to reattach the line with the banjo only lightly tightened, start the engine and crack the banjo undone slightly. Should he pretty evident if there is any real pressure there. Bit of a mess to clean up if there is!

      You don't remember when I did the exact same thing on the 244?

        Dauntless

        I do have a test gauge but no suitable fitting in it, and I haven't had any luck finding out what thread it is.

        I get the feeling I'll have to rebuild the engine. Really didn't want to have to do that.

        Time to spend the $5 on a thread pitch gauge?

        Ever had the valve cover off to see how sludgy the engine is inside? When we did the rear main seal on my perents tea20 we found the sump was really badly sludged up.

        If it is sludged up you might get away with removing the valve cover and the sump and cleaning it up from the top and bottom.

          I do have a thread pitch gauge, somewhere. It doesn't match up with anything on the thread file I have, it's quite a coarse thread.

          The engine has maybe an hour of run time since the valve clearances were set 12ish years ago, I don't remember it being sludgy. I'd like to run it with the valve cover off to see if any oil is getting up there, but I'll have to rig up some sort of temporary fuel system to do that and I really need to tidy up the shed before I pull this thing apart too much.

            Re the thread, bloke I work with sometimes, a bush mechanic/fitter who learner to fix things in rural Papua New Guinea as parents were missionaries reckons it's unf or gas thread but needs the diameter to tell. If you have picture I'll send it to him..It's always good to work with him , he has great stories.

            Dauntless

            I do have a thread pitch gauge, somewhere. It doesn't match up with anything on the thread file I have, it's quite a coarse thread.

            The engine has maybe an hour of run time since the valve clearances were set 12ish years ago, I don't remember it being sludgy. I'd like to run it with the valve cover off to see if any oil is getting up there, but I'll have to rig up some sort of temporary fuel system to do that and I really need to tidy up the shed before I pull this thing apart too much.

            I'd just drop the pan and clean the eff out of everything

            Also, drain the oil and fill it with atf type F and run it for a bit to just clean everything

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              This is the banjo bolt.

              The sump isn't sludged up. The oil pickup screen bolts into the side of the sump, and I removed it for inspection when I drained the old oil.

              BSP plumbing fitting? (Or whatever its called) might be worth a try.

              BSPP thread pitch is smaller than that I think. Could be wrong though, what's the thread OD?

              https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1827064217469213/?ref=facebook_story_share

              My esteemed mate says it's a badly corroded NPT (National Pipe Thread)

              According to my measurements it seems to be 3/8 16TPI BSW. I could be wrong.

              2 years later

              Well, I haven't done much on this for a while, but lately I've taken the time to do a bit of research.

              It turns out that low oil pressure is pretty common on these engines and they do tend to tolerate it pretty well. The oil pressure port is tapped into the camshaft, so if everything is a bit worn there's a good chance all pressure has bled off before the port.

              It's been suggested that I actually start the engine with the banjo bolt removed, rather than just cranking.

              I think the next job will be removing the sump, checking the oil pump and bottom end clearances, though I'm thinking this will lead to a full rebuild anyway.

              As for parts:

              Standard bore rebuild kit ~$900

              Rebuild kit upgrading to 85mm bore/2088cc ~$700.

              Timing chain ~$50, or a kit with sprockets ~$200

              Oil pump rebuild kit ~$100

              Clutch kit ~$300

              Wondering how much can be taken off the cylinder head. I'd like to be fairly conservative with this, but some extra compression would be nice. Stock compression is meant to be 5.77:1, but with a larger bore and a little bit taken off the head this might end up more like 6.5:1.

              High altitude high comp pistons are a thing

              Interesting, they're not something I've come across. At one stage there was a bloke selling 9:1 pistons but I don't want to raise the compression ratio that high. I know there were a lot of changes made to the Triumph versions to get them to withstand high compression.

              The Vanguard Phase 3 had 7.5:1 (up from 6.0:1 in the earlier cars) but I'm not sure if this was achieved with changes to the pistons or cylinder head. The heads don't really interchange as the cars had larger intake valves and larger, differently shaped ports that don't match the tractor manifolds.

              Realistically it runs fine as it is with stock compression and bore size, so a mild upgrade is all I'm looking for.

              High altitude pistons would be like 7:1

              I'm doing 9.7:1 for the ford tractor when I get to it

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