Cam upgrade- should oil pump be replaced? More questions

[Btrbimmer]

2014 1LE with 8000miles. Primary use is HPDE. Oil mods are CAI and big oil cooler.

I’m installing a Cam, valve springs, push rods, headers and a dyno tune.

What other supporting mods are needed?
Better oil pump or stay with stock?
Timing Chain? Which one is really needed?
ARP crank bolt vs. OEM ?

Also, TSP offers a single bolt cam. Why bother switching to a 3 bolt?

I’m considering a BTR stage 2 cam, but I’m open to suggestions. I don’t want to loose any torque and I’m not concerned about “lopey” idle sound. Just want it to perform at the track and not introduce any reliability issues.

[Matty Ice]

Most of what I have read is that we want to keep the stock oil pump or stock pressure/volume. Some have upgraded to a "blueprinted" type aftermarket pump. With our 1le's oil starvation could be an issue in sustained high G turns with the high volume/pressure oil pumps. I am sure there is some that will disagree.

As far as the other mods, it really comes down to what you want to spend money on and piece of mind. With the stage two cam you won't be spinning that high of rpms compared to other cams. There are a lot of cam swaps that people just swapped the cam and have had no problems, others have had problems. You also have low miles compared to someone changing cams a 60,000+mi.

Then one mod everyone recommends is upgrading the rocker bearings/bushings.

[Rons1le]

Upgrade to a melling oil pump with stock pressure and high volume. OEM oil pumps notorious for failure. Trunion and timing chain upgrade also recommend.

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[Clarkstar]

Originally Posted by Rons1le

Upgrade to a melling oil pump with stock pressure and high volume. OEM oil pumps notorious for failure. Trunion and timing chain upgrade also recommend.

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What he said...

[Black_SS10]

You don't need a high volume pump. Unless your engine clearances are more loose than factory. Stick with a factory volume pump. If you're running a oil cooler, go with high pressure. Since you will lose pressure with a cooler. So a standard volume/high pressure pump.

[Katech_Zach]

I would suggest our CNC high pressure oil pump with the improved racing oil pan baffle:

https://store.katechengines.com/gen-34-oil-pump-p5.aspx

http://www.improvedracing.com/oil-pa...ffle-p-41.html

[Black_SS10]

I second the Improved Racing suggestion. I have an Improved Racing crank scraper and windage tray. They are really nice piece's.

[Rons1le]

Katech does make great parts. But in the end it all depends on what your doing with the car.

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[Russell James]

In a wet sump LS, you need a high volume pump if you have - piston oilers or AFM. The OE engines that have either of those will be a high volume OE pump.

For performance mods without those things, go standard volume, slight increase in pressure, blueprinted pump. Katech pointed you to a great choice. Improved racing makes a nice girdle type bracket for the pickup.

I'd definitely use a 3 bolt cam, GM gears, C5R chain, LS2 dogbone dampner. I'd also spend a little extra for the better cam core. OE gears reduce the chance of the cam timing being off. I've had back luck with aftermarket gears in the past, whereas the OE gears are usually spot on. Should always degree a cam, but if starting with good gears and a cam doctored cam, you have a better chance of things being on timing with just a straight up install.

[Pro-tuned]

I agree with Rons. High pressure is not needed. Excess pressure is not ideal for the purpose and can contribute to leaking seals. Running an external cooler with a high volume pump will keep the pressures more stable. GM pumps are of poor quality when you compare them side by side with a pump like Melling.

[Russell James]

Originally Posted by Pro-tuned

I agree with Rons. High pressure is not needed. Excess pressure is not ideal for the purpose and can contribute to leaking seals. Running an external cooler with a high volume pump will keep the pressures more stable. GM pumps are of poor quality when you compare them side by side with a pump like Melling.

Depends on the application.

The oil pump is like many other engine components, should be matched to the whole package.

High volume pumps are used where the application needs higher volume, ie piston oilers or an AFM manifold or huge coolers, sumps... If one does not have components requiring the higher volume... a std volume would be more suitable.

High pressure pump. IMHO, as performance and engine loads go up, a little extra pressure is a good thing. The oil pressure is a result of the pump and bearing clearances and oil visc.... The builder needs to balance all that. Then you have factors like hydraulic lifters and stiffer valve springs. If the valve springs are tougher to open hydraulically vs stock, do you still want to use stock oil pressure? Me, I'd like a touch more.

You can gain a very slight amount of hp by using thin oil, tight clearances, low oil pressure, tons of anti wear ZDDP... the NASCAR engine theory. At the expense of wear and longevity. I'd rather balance in less wear by opening up the bearing clearances, using tri metal bearings, increasing oil pressure and using a reasonable viscosity... ie 10w30 racing synthetic.

Just my opinion again, for street performance in a modded engine, I'd do the 10% pressure increase. And base the volume decision on the engine content... does it have piston oilers, AFM, a giant cooling circuit?

If an engine is having seal problems, I'd suspect; crankcase pressure, bad seal, bad fit... vs a 10% increase pressure pump as the suspects. If a little more oil pressure causes an engine to leak...the builder deserved that leak.

[frankwjr]

hand ported and shimmed stock pump with approx. 20k street/strip miles still gettin 10psi per 1k rpm...saved sum $$$ too.


Good luck!


PEACE