oil pump/timing cover question

[87gninpa]

im going to be doing my timing chain soon, partly because its at 100k and partly because i have low oil pressure(12 psi hot idle) ive heard that when dropping the pan there might be pieces of the rear main on the pickup, which causes low pressure.
my question is, if i do the timing chain and rear main and then put it all back together and see if the pressure goes up, woul di have to remove the timing cover again to rebuild the pump? reason is id rather not touch the pump if i dont have to. If i do have to rebuild it, id just do a stock rebuild on it, so can that be done with the timing cover on the caR?? TIA

 

[fast eddie]

yes you can rebuild the pump without taking the front cover off.
Ed

 

[pacecarta]

its the nylon timing gear and the tensioner that shreds and gets to the pickup screen, thats why its important to drop the pan when doing a timing chain

if your oil pump drive shaft is sloppy in the bore dont just throw the timing cover back on , get it fixed
youll need to rebush or replace the front cover and you dont want to do it in the car .

i wouldnt worry about 12psi at hot idle

 

[87gninpa]

so i guess ill be able to tell if the pump needs to be rebuilt when i take it off then? thanks for the help guys how would i go about rebuilding it without removing the timing cover? and if i used a stock rebuild kit i wouldnt have to drill or dremel anything, right?

 

[pacecarta]

no you wont know if it needs a rebuild . you may have some clearance on the gears (12lbs hot idle isnt bad as long as you have pressure while its driving)
what youll know is the housing is ok and you can install and if you feel like messing with the pump later you could redo the gears and the plate in the car .

 

[BlackBandit]

I suppose it's just my opinion but if you suspect the pump may not be moving enough oil I would rebuild it while you have the cover off. The reason I say this is that the ONLY way you're going to know if the clearance between the gears and the thrust plate (in the pump) is correct is to check the end play in the drive gear AFTER the pump is torqued to the timing cover. Can you rebuild the pump on the car? Yes, I've done it before and I'll probably do it again. Is it worth the peace of mind to me to spend the extra $25 and know without a doubt that your pump is set up right? IMO it is. Just my .02.

 

[87gninpa]

ive also heard that i should put a new cover on when i do this...is this necessary? i wouldnt think the actual cover would go bad

 

[mybuick]

from the factory the cam button was not a roller bearing so it would drill into the timing cover. if it has not gone to deep to mix with the antifreeze than have an aluminum welder fill the hole and get a roller bearing cam button.

 

[87gninpa]

how can i tell if it went to deep when i take it off?

 

[mybuick]

if you can see faint light through the cover.

 

[trbojo]

do yourself a favor if you're going through all the hassle of pulling the front cover: GET A NEW FRONT COVER WITH HIGH VOLUME OIL PUMP!! they're cheap enough from john'sperformance.com. this is what i used when i replaced mine. it has a redesigned front seal area, which, a: uses a one piece neoprene seal, and b: the seal is driven into the FRONT of the cover which means not having to remove the cover again if the seal needs to be replaced, as you have to do with the original rope type seal. my oil pressure improved greatly with this setup.