oil cooler reccomendations?

[fixxxer22]

I have slightly built up 502. last year when i pulled the engine i had a good ammount of metal in the engine. the cam had 5 flat lobes. i went to change the oil on it and i decided to pull the plug after sucking it down to look at the magnet. it had a good ammount of furry metal on it. last night i tore down the upper engine and inspected the valvetrain. the lifters, pushrods, and rockers looked good. i think i may have metal still in my old oil cooler. i am bringing the boat to work and pulling the engine to inspect the bearings and install a better timing set. if i find nothing wrong i am going to assume it is in the cooler. i just want to replace it with the same tandem oil/ps cooler. any reccomedations on aftermarket replacements?

i tried to flush the cooler last year. and the engine was completely torn down, boiled and bored. i will also do a leakdown check. the metal does not have that bearing material smell.

[YoungPerformance]

Yeah, I would definitely replace that cooler if you think there is any metal in it. It sounds like it since you found it on the magnet. There is no reason to chance it. Whenever I get an engine that has been broken or is on the way out and has put metal in the pan, I pitch the cooler in the trash. For you setup, a cooler from Eddie Marine will work just fine. I use their 3" combo cooler up to about 800 hp and it works great. Been using them for years with no problems. They have them in both bare and chrome plated.
Eddie

[fixxxer22]

Yeah, I would definitely replace that cooler if you think there is any metal in it. It sounds like it since you found it on the magnet. There is no reason to chance it. Whenever I get an engine that has been broken or is on the way out and has put metal in the pan, I pitch the cooler in the trash. For you setup, a cooler from Eddie Marine will work just fine. I use their 3" combo cooler up to about 800 hp and it works great. Been using them for years with no problems. They have them in both bare and chrome plated.
Eddie

when i pull the engine what else should i look for? it runs great and i did a leakdown check middle of last season. all was good. the distributor gear looked good. i am running lunati retrofit roller lifters and they look a little polished but i dont think that is where my metal is comming from. i am going to check the rods and mains. also i have heard that i should have installed a new oil pressure pypass valve due to my new higher pressure higher volume oil pump... am i bypassing my oil filter too much?

[YoungPerformance]

That is quite possible that you are bypassing the filter to much. I just remove the valves and plug the one hole that is off center in the oil filter pad. The other one just stays open.
I would drop the pan and pull a few main and rod caps off to have a look. Obviously, the metal is coming from somewhere. You need to find it. This will give you the chance to clean the pan real good. When bearings are going, they make a ton of metal shavings. With the bypasses opening, that metal just keeps going through the bearings, making more shavings. With everything else showing good, I would put money on it taking a bearing out. Check the rear main bearing thrust face to be sure it is not worn excessively. With the wrong coupler and outdrive input shaft combo, it will tear up the rear main bearings thrust surface. Good luck. Give me a shout if I can help.
Eddie

[fixxxer22]

I was hoping that the engine would not have to make a trip to the machine shop but oh well. I did have a shake when comming down from high speeds. I guess it would not be that bad if the crank is ok. i could just buy another set of bearings and make her work.

I am still a little concerned with the condition of the lifters they are a little rough. I wonder if i have skimped in this section i am running these http://www.lunatipower.com/Product.aspx?id=2535&gid=311

I went with them because of cost. But now i am wondering if they are tough enough for my application.

I will keep you posted of what i find and i wil remove the bypass and plug that hole. Is it threadded? do i just insert a pipe plug in it?

[YoungPerformance]

I haven't run those lifters before, so I don't know how good they are and what they can take. All I can say is that I use Morels and they work.
As for the bypass hole, it is not threaded. I tap it with a 1/2" NPT tap and then screw in a plug. You have to tap all the way to the botom of the hole so that the plug will not stick up past the surface. I have seen someone use an expansion plug ( like a freeze plug, or cam plug) that just gets driven in the hole. It looks to be much easier than tapping it. I am not sure of the exact size plug. I will see if I can find out.
Here is a pic of how I do it.

[fixxxer22]

wow! you have alot of info. thank you very much. and pray for me! i will post next week when i get the engine out and torn down.

where can i find morel lifters. cant seem to ind a website.

[Geronimo36]

Kinda weird you wiped out 5 cam lobes with roller lifters and they're still in-tact?

Any copper color metal shavings?

[fixxxer22]

Kinda weird you wiped out 5 cam lobes with roller lifters and they're still in-tact?

Any copper color metal shavings?

No, it was a 502 mag with a hydraulic flat tappet. that zinc is good stuff. was wondering why it kept loosing power and that is when i decides to build it. but currently my cam looks great. i am going to post pictures of the valvetrain on sunday so young performabce can tell me what he thinks of the current lifters.

gotta take care of this now so i can have another fun season. didnt notice the metal until the end of last season. i like to pull my drainplug to inspect the magnet when i change my oil.

[MILD THUNDER]

Damn oils today wreak havoc on flat lifters. I always tried to use oil with high zddp when i ran flat tappets, and tried not idling the boat too much. Where i used to store my boat, it was like a 5 mile idle to where you can get on plane. Used to throw it in nuetral and bring the R's up every so often to splash some oil on the cam.

[MILD THUNDER]

That is quite possible that you are bypassing the filter to much. I just remove the valves and plug the one hole that is off center in the oil filter pad. The other one just stays open.
I would drop the pan and pull a few main and rod caps off to have a look. Obviously, the metal is coming from somewhere. You need to find it. This will give you the chance to clean the pan real good. When bearings are going, they make a ton of metal shavings. With the bypasses opening, that metal just keeps going through the bearings, making more shavings. With everything else showing good, I would put money on it taking a bearing out. Check the rear main bearing thrust face to be sure it is not worn excessively. With the wrong coupler and outdrive input shaft combo, it will tear up the rear main bearings thrust surface. Good luck. Give me a shout if I can help.
Eddie

Eddie, I gotta hand it to you. Your insight and advice on the boards is priceless, and its rare to see a well known builder like yourself help out the do-it-yourselfers on the forums. There have been lots of builders that advertise on the boat forums, but not many who participate much in the tech help like you do. Sorry to get off topic...

[fixxxer22]

Damn oils today wreak havoc on flat lifters. I always tried to use oil with high zddp when i ran flat tappets, and tried not idling the boat too much. Where i used to store my boat, it was like a 5 mile idle to where you can get on plane. Used to throw it in nuetral and bring the R's up every so often to splash some oil on the cam.

That is a good idea.... That cam was sooo bad that i showed it to my guy at the machine shop and he asked to keep it to show people the effects of the new oils of today.

[YoungPerformance]

Eddie, I gotta hand it to you. Your insight and advice on the boards is priceless, and its rare to see a well known builder like yourself help out the do-it-yourselfers on the forums. There have been lots of builders that advertise on the boat forums, but not many who participate much in the tech help like you do. Sorry to get off topic...

Thank you very much. I really appreciate the kind words. I really enjoy helping. I had a lot of help coming up, so I know what it's like to need someone's help that is more knowledgable than you. I didn't have the money to pay someone to fix my stuff, so I had to learn on my own. And I asked many people, many questions. I am just returning the favor.
I try to live by a saying: the true measure of a man is when he helps someone that can't benefit him. I take it as me helping someone that I am pretty sure will never buy anything from me.
Eddie

[YoungPerformance]

Fixxxer, do you have a hyd. roller in it now? Has the flat tappet been replaced by a hyd roller? Did the cam lobes go out last year and you changed the cam and ran it since then? Just trying to get up to speed so we can figure out what is going on.
Eddie

[fixxxer22]

The engine lost the cam and i then decided to go through it. I tore it down and had all new bearings installed and went through it. i installed a hyd roller cam with the retrofit lifters. the cam is a gen 6 and i am running the plate between the cam and sprocket. no button. stock pan, has 500hp intake and carb. crower rockers, rough surfaces removed and gasket matched heads (no flow bench here locally) just made a 500hp. it has a 525efi cam in it.

Eddie, I am going to take some pics of the valvetrain and lifters and post here tommorow.

[fixxxer22]

Actually i will pots pics tonight. I really would like your input more sooner than later Eddie

[YoungPerformance]

No problem. I would be glad to help as much as I can. Post the pics and we can go from there.
Eddie

[jeffswav]

Yeah, I would definitely replace that cooler if you think there is any metal in it. It sounds like it since you found it on the magnet. There is no reason to chance it. Whenever I get an engine that has been broken or is on the way out and has put metal in the pan, I pitch the cooler in the trash. For you setup, a cooler from Eddie Marine will work just fine. I use their 3" combo cooler up to about 800 hp and it works great. Been using them for years with no problems. They have them in both bare and chrome plated.
Eddie

x2 that is the one I use.

[fixxxer22]

One of the lifters which i think look ok. mostly focusing on where they ride in their bores.

[fixxxer22]

I pulled the lifters up by the way. I was wondering if the wear on them is normal.