Subject: The Maestro's Quiz, Part 3, Feb 11, 1996 Last Week, in the Maestro's Quiz, a Turkeyized 356C Engine had: 1. Over 80 psi Oil Pressure! and: 2. A copiously-flowing River of Gold coming from the Flywheel end of the engine. The Golden Stream was OIL from the VW "mechanic" not installing a little thing called a FLYWHEEL OIL SEAL! The Maestro fixed that and fired the beastie up again. But the Oil Pressure Gauge was STILL pegged at 80PSI! Sooooooo, the Maestro got out a very accurate Nuclear Pressure Gauge, with a 5" face, able to read to 1 psi. Which brings up to the: QUICK QUIZ OF LAST WEEK: What was the ACTUAL Oil Pressure of this engine, both idling and at 3000 RPM? And: Why? "WHOA!!!" said the Maestro looking at the gauge. 120 PSI! And that was at IDLE! The Maestro revved up the engine to 3000 RPM- the Gauge almost, but not quite pegged, at damn near 160 PSI! Double WHOA! The engine had a Hundred and Sixty Pound Per Square Inch Oil Pressure- about 3 times Normal! (And TEN Times what Jerry Senifeld's Original Speedster Engine had!) The Juggler, right on cue, asked the Obvious Question: "Uh, Maestro, is having such high Oil Pressure BAD? Like will it cause damage to the engine?" The Maestro had to think about that for a while. You can too. WHAT BAD THINGS WOULD 160 psi Oil Pressure DO to a 356 Porsche Engine? If anything. And that, gentlemen, is the Question for this week! KEEP THE 356 FAITH! The Maestro WHAT BAD EFFECT(S) WOULD 160 PSI OIL PRESSURE HAVE ON A 356 ENGINE? The Maestro had to think about that for a while- as the engine was warming up. First he thought about the Crank and the Bearings. Nope, the the Crank and Bearings like to see lots of pressurized oil. They'd be OK. Not the rockers- they'll be happy to see more oil too. AH- what about the OIL COOLER- it could burst! But the Maestro tests Oil Coolers at 125+ PSI and the good ones don't blow out. (The Bad ones whistle like Banshees though!) But then his Engineering Brain began to think about other parts of the engine. He's been told Tales of Oil Seals popping out when the oil pressure got too high. 'Course the Maestro's NEVER seen a seal pop from too much oil pressure himself! The Maestro glanced down at the Pulley and Crank area of the running engine with 160 psi pressure. Nope. No leaks. The seals hadn't failed yet! But then the Maestro's somewhat twisted brain thought of one thing that could REALLY cause damage on an Engine with 160 psi oil pressure. Something that, ironically, happened to NOT be on this long block the Maestro had running! That's right- THE OIL FILTER CAN! With a diameter of almost 4" the Oil Filter Can has about 12 square inches. Subjected to a pressure of 160 PSI, that's almost 2,000 pounds Force a-pushin' on the top of that Oil Filter Can! That's One Ton, bo'! And the Bolt holding the can top on about half-inch, so the Stress on the Bolt is some 10,000 PSI. What's the Ultimate Strength of a Thirty+Year old Oil Filter Can Bolt? Fortunately, since this was a Long Block, the Oil Filter Can wasn't hooked up! attached. The Maestro leaves the demonstration of the dangers of applying 160+ PSI to the Oil Filter Can to the Student. And is VERY happy that he wasn't bending over the oil filter can of the assembled engine! Or you might not be reading this! Now WHY was there 160 psi in the first place- on a Turkeyfied engine yet??? You just answered your own question- the Turkeyfied engine must be the reason! So, the Maestro had no choice but to pull the Pressure Relief Valve, which meant that he first had to pull off the Muffler, the J tube on the 3/4 side and its Heater Box. THEN he could finally pull out the Oil Pressure Relief valve and spring to see what the Story was here! Was it merely a stuck plunger? Or something really esoteric. Actually, it was more like what the Maestro suspected- the Turkey VW Mechanic had used, of course, some "Trick Hot Set Up " OIl Pressure Relief Spring to raise the Oil Pressure. Unfortunately, the spring he chose had a REALLY THICK wire diameter- so thick that when compressed just a half inch or so- the coils met. Having the coils meet is called "coil bind", and once this happened, the spring ain't no spring no more! It's a SOLID! And won't compress no more. Which meant that the plunger, no matter how hard it tried, couldn't ever depress the spring enough to uncover enough of the oil return hole to lower the pressure below 160 psi! Sigh. So, the Maestro replaced the spring with a Real Porsche one. Reinstalled all the stuff he took off to get to it, and fired the engine back up AGAIN! This time his Nuclear Oil Pressure Gauge remained sub-Critical, showing 45 psi at idle, 60 psi at 3000 RPM. The 356C was back to Normal. And the engine now ran- sort of OK- a bit rough since the flywheel had not been properly balanced, but certainly acceptable for a Turkey engine built by a VW mechanic. That was all the Demons the Maestro could exorcise that day, but he figured he did do a decent demon decimation for one day. But would the Turkey strike yet another blow? Would there be Something Else lurking inside just biding its time, waiting to strike an economic Death Blow? The Maestro'll let you know. Until then: KEEP THE 356 FAITH. The Maestro.