Hot air > Intercooled - Front Cover?

[85Dan85TType]

Are they the same? Different enough to cause problems?

The reason I ask is that I've finally gotten my lazy butt going and am trying to kick this project into high gear, but looking at the oil pump and front cover, something just doesn't look right. I already noticed that the oil pump has no lines going to the radiator which I believe is not agreeing with the '87 setup.

I would really prefer to not switch those if at all possible, just because my oil passages there have been Ruggles-ized (thanks Lee! By the way, I still have that magazines, send me your address and I'll get them back to you ASAP! Really sorry!). At the time they fit my project, but projects change! Are there any workarounds, or is this something I need to swtich out?

 

[usetaboost]

You have to match them: 20 bolt pan for 20 bolt cover, 14 bolt pan for 14 bolt cover. As far as the oil line adaptor, it all just unscrews/screws together as long as its a metric cover.

 

[85Dan85TType]

It's a 4.1 motor with a 14-bolt pan, the front cover is on there, so I guess I got those matched up.

I went out and took a picture of the oil pump housing and here's what I got:

The one at the bottom middle (with hex bolt in it) is the only one I can see as not being structural in nature. The rest look like they're used to hold it up.

Also, from what you said useta, does that mean an '85 water pump will work as well? The essence of this project is cheap, while still being quality. :biggrin: I just want to be able to turn it on!

 

[usetaboost]

I think they are all the same so shouldn't be a problem. I don't know if you permanetely have that cover on or if you just put it up for visuals, but its a good idea to have them bead blasted to get the crap off of them. THey come out like new and you can check them for cracks. Yes they do crack, I've seen it Make sure you get a haynes manual so you get the oil pump set up right. There are specific clearances for gears! Right every time I put them together but you never know I know how you feel about the whole cheap vs. right thing. It's not fun trying to build a junk/thrashed motor. Can't buy nice heads or intake, no money for internal mods, just plain old rebuild saving a few bucks where you can. If I would have waited another year I coulda bought a nice car instead of a big pile of sh!t pellets.

Get that FRAM filter off that motor for starters!

 

[85Dan85TType]

A guy I would trust with anything Buick related put the oil pump on (same guy that did the modding to the passages). The front cover isn't dirty, it's just dusty as all hell, if I remember right, it was beautiful when we put it on. Hahaha.

I may end up pulling it off anyway, because I've never been accused of having the best memory.

About the Fram thing: hahaha, that's what everyone says. By my reckoning the oil will get changed often enough, I've never seen any difference in filters, after 3k miles they all look like crap. I've used OEM and K&N both on my SC300, and when this T-Type ran I used this, that, and the other; either way the oil looks about black when I take it out.