It’s hard to trust many parts today. We’ve seen new oil pumps with issues right out of the box. We always take them apart to clean and inspect, lube up the pressure relief valve, and put them back together. Old style shaft driven pumps are pretty easy to bench test, but crank driven pumps are tricky. We’re in the process of going through a big batch of Ford industrial engines that can’t be primed with oil or tested before delivery due to them being shipped all over the world. I had a junk crank laying around, so I cut off the snout with the oil pump drive and welded a drive shaft to the front. Now we are able to turn the pump with a drill. I also made a plate to bolt to the pump outlet with a pressure gauge attached to test the bypass valve. We decided to bump the pressure a bit since these engines tend to eventually suffer bearing failures. With a few shims between the spring and plug the bypass now opens at 90 PSI with room temp 5W-20 oil. I believe the factory bypass is around 60. This should help with longevity.
Jake Sampson
Sampson Racing Engines
Inver Grove Heights, MN