V6 Timing chain installation

How is your oil pressure now?

My hot pressure is 15~ at idle and I'm considering rebuilding...

 

This thread is 2 years and about 4 months old, almost 5.

If you are running a GM product engine, 10 psi per thousand rpm is considered very good. 10 psi at idle and 35 to 40 psi at 3200 rpms or so is about right.

Have you done pressure and leak down tests on each of the cylinders yet? That will go a long way towards telling you if you need to rebuild or just get a valve job.

 

I should have clarified. I was curious how the oil pressure is, two years on. I'm considering rebuilding my oil pump.
I have read many times on 10 psi.

However, at two, three even, thousand RPM, I read 15, maybe 20 psi.

 

20 psi at 3000 rpm is too low. You should have 10 psi per 1000 rpm, so 10 at 1000, 20 at 2000, 30 at 3000, etc. Minimum. More is better.

Don't know about the Buick engines, but the AMC oiling system is a similar design. With the AMC engines, you have two main causes of low oil pressure, other than worn out main or rod bearings.

First it the oil pump clearances. I expect the V6s are the same in this respect - lapping the oil pump cover will have no effect on the oil pressure other than removing the channels worn in the cover by the oil pump gears. You can also add a midplate to deal with this. The gears sit proud of the timing cover, and the clearance is determined by the thickness of the gasket. Your TSM should have the oil pump gear clearances specified so you can measure them. Measure, measure, measure. If the gears have worn into the timing cover, so the end clearance is too large, you can lap the oil pump surface of the timing cover to reduce the clearance between the oil pump cover (oil pump adapter) and the gears.

The other source of low oil pressure is bad cam bearings. Don't know if the V6 suffers from this or not.

 

Exactly my point, its too low.
Thanks for the advice Tim, I'll check the oil pump gear clearances.

 

Old thread revival

I'd say that I put less than 500 miles on the new timing set before I pulled the engine for a full rebuild.

Cam bearings looked decent when I pulled the engine. The cam had a wiped lobe but the journals were fine. The rod bearings and most of the main bearings looked okay. One or two sets of main bearings had some slight scoring but not enough to damage the crankshaft.