429 engine oil pump rebuild

[nick.stratta]

Hi All,
Any advice about rebuilding the oil pump on my 429.  What are the 'gotcha's' please?  I aware of the fragile front timing cover.
Where is the best place to get the rebuild parts - any brands to go for/ not go for (!) All seems fine and no oiling issues but I want to check it over.
I do have what sounds like a ticking lifter on startup which goes away when the engine warms up so may got for a set of lifters if they don't look like they'll clean up (could be plugged drain holes?)
Thanks Nick. 

[russ austin]

Nick, Mellings makes all the oil pump gears for the different vendors. Just find the cheapest one. I ebay or amazon my oil pump kits.

Lifters may or may not cure your noisy lifter. The push rods are solid, so the rocker arms get the lube from the rocker arm shaft. The rocker assembly wears after time, so pull them apart and mic check the shafts and rocker arms.  the specs are in the shop manual. 

The oil pump consists of the housing, gears, and the pressure relief valve assembly.  Nothing you can do about the housing.
Replace the gears and have the pressure relief assembly inspected for wear.  The specs are in the shop manual, back of the engine section.

How many miles are on the engine?

[savemy67]

Hello Nick,

I don't know what year your engine is, but for 1967, the 429 engine used pedestal mounted rocker arms with hollow pushrods.  Previous years used shaft mounted rocker arms and solid pushrods as Russ indicated.

Another issue often discussed on this forum is the thickness of the oil pump cover plate gasket.  Too thick a gasket adversely affects oil pressure.

How many miles are on the engine?  If the lifters and camshaft have a lot of miles together, installing new lifters may be detrimental to the old camshaft, new lifters, or both.  You could rebuild the old lifters.

If you rebuild the oil pump, be sure to have some way of priming the pump and the oil passages before firing the engine.

Respectfully submitted,
Christopher Winter