I am about to put together a 327 for a friend. It is not going to be a killer engine. One of his friend's took a die grinder to the oil galley holes in the lifter valley, and the timing chain oil holes. It's going to have a mild hydraulic camshaft, and I don't know where the thinking came from to do this. Will this engine oil okay or too good? I am recommending him to run a stock vol. oil pump, but he is insisiting on running a high vol. Any one have any ideas? I have never heard of anyone doing this before, and I have never seen a sbc have oil problems.

I forgot to mention that he is insisting on running a noisy gear drive. I guess he thought that the gear drive needed more oil than a timing chain. I don't know.

It's a good idea to open up the return holes. It gets the oil back to the pan quicker. I even set the heads on the block and check that the block isn't obstructing the return holes in them. I grind the block if necessary.

I agree a HiVol pump isn't needed or desirable. It will rob power without providing any advantages. The only time I think a HV pump is needed is in a High RPM engine (over 7500 RPM), for fleet use in an engine that is expected to run hundred of thousands of miles, or in an engine with very loose clearances.

Quik oil return is always good.Just remember that you need at least 10psi oil preasure for every 1000rpm!6000rpm=60psi oil preasure.

I'd suggest you consider bowing out of these guys deal. Sounds like they have no idea what they're doing or why they're doing it. If anything goes wrong, though, it will be all your fault. I got tired of these deals about 20 years ago, just started politely passing on the deal.

Thanks every one for your suggestions. My friend doesn't know a whole lot about engines, true. His buddy talked him into doing the grinding. I will probably bow out of this job. I need to spend time with my new born daughter as of August 1st, 2005. I welcome her to my family with open arms. Baby Alexa.

Congratulations on the new addition to your family. I wish her and your family the very best.

Congratulations on the new addition to your family. I wish her and your family the very best.

Thank you. You are very kind. I've been up for 36 hours straight with a 1 hour nap. Kind of running on adrenaline. There sure are nice people on this website!

One thing to consider is that the oil return holes often contain casting
"flash" that can break off and end up in your engine.More of a consideration
on higher h.p. or rpm engines that might twist or distort the block slightly,
thus causing this flash material to break off.But I would consider cleaning up these areas part of any blueprinting job.Proper de-burring of all the sharp edges on my block fall under this area.