Thread: Oil pump shim

Ive seen it mentioned a few times, but have yet to find much information on this. I have an engine being built for NASA PT and TT racing. This engine will have many of the tricks Mike used in his low budget build.

I would like to raise the oil pressure for some extra insurance. I keep seeing that the VE oil pump offers more pressure. I would like to take advantage of (some) of that at a lower cost.

I found that that rwd DET has a dual spring in their oil pump regulator valve, located in the timing cover. Would it be possible to use this?

Maybe I dont even need to do this. I am just trying to take precautions when I can.

Thoughts? Comments?

yes it can be shimmed. i have done it in the past. i used some shims under the regulator spring. thus making it more stiff. so instead of bleeding off the excess pressure... it raises the pressure in the system. i cant remeber what was the thickness of the shims i used. it is something you will have to play with. start off small. then you will have to adjust as you see fit. but this will raise pressure and not flow. the vvl oil pump gear is thicker in size. i forgot by what percent in thickness it has over the de or det gear, but the percentage increase in flow is about the same as it is bigger. i think in the long run the vvl oil pump will benefit more. it is more expensive but maybe a used one will not be that bad.

I would agree with Lance 100%. Shimming is possible, but taking the same volume of flow and providing more pressure IMO would equate to less protection.

Thanks guys. That makes sense. Up till now I have not been running an gauges. But never had any issues. I am going to be keeping a close eye on oil pressure and temps. If I add a cooler or a accusump I will pull the trigger on the VE pump.

derm had some issues running a ve oil pump on a de+ve motor setup.

seems that without oil squirters the oil pressure on a de block is too high when using a ve pump. You could end up with bearing wash. I think oil pressure at idle was over 5 bar. derm can confirm.

So perhaps try the shimming or drill and tap some oil squirters in there if you gonna go ve pump.

Explain.

Yes Sir!

If I add the VE oil pump, I will also be installing an oil cooler and a remote filter. I have little doubt that with these extra components, I will have too much pressure.

I dont know what the pressure the regulator is set to in the ve oil pump from factory. but lets say it is 100psi. If it is, then there should be no more than that. If there is more then, it is the regulators job to keep it at 100psi. The only way to adjust the pressure is to modify the regulator in the pump. There shold be no difference at idle between a block with oil squirters or one with out becuase the oil squirters only start working at high oil pressure. They do not work at idle. If pressure is too high at high rpm becuase of no oil squirters, then again it is the regulators job to maintain the pressure at a predetermined setting(what ever facotry is). Brand new de oil pumps will get up to somewhere around 70-80 psi at high rpm. That is not a big differrence. I dont think bearing wash is posssible.