Oil pressure? Problem

[rittchie66]

Hi everyone here's my problem, fresh motor (std heads and case with everything else s&s) when I start it cold oil pressure is good but as I let it warm up pressure drops to zero.. My other evo does the same thing (I know nature of the evo beast) but it never drops to zero.. And when I blip the throttle there is movement on the guage, with this one there is no movement, stays pegged at zero..  In hopes of boosting pressure I bought the super pump spring kit from ert and tried all 3 springs to no avail..I've got good flow into the pump and out of the return line, now here's my problem, as I ride (just short little hops around the neighborhood of 1-3 miles checking the if the three diffrent springs help) I get what sounds like a lifter ticking away twards the end of test ride.. My thinking was warm thin oil and lifter doesn't stay pumped up, let it sit for 5 min and quiet again.. Any ideas? Btw I first started motor with 20w50 standard oil but after first ride I switched to straight 50w thinking thicker oil might help.. Any ideas? New oil pump? Faulty lifters? (I don't think they were changed when motor was freshened up (it only had 10,000 miles on it) thanks for any help
Rich

[Ironheadmike]

Are your oil lines connected right?

[rittchie66]

yes. ive double and triple checked them. im in the process of changing the lifters to try that but past that im lost

[rageglide]

I've always found straight weight oil gets thinner than a multi-weight when hot.  I'd start by putting the 20w50 back in and see if it improves.

My softail will flickers the oil light when hot and idling, but otherwise it's off and no problems. 

[rittchie66]

rageglide, thats how my other evo acts and im fine with that. this one is bad... oil pressure does not build when revs go up at all and i get a lifter that bleeds off, im not sure if one is symptomatic of the other (or visa versa).. im planning on changing lifters HOPEFULLY that will cure it

[mr. pitts]

Try another gauge. The one you have might be telling lies.

[rageglide]

and if its the gauge that sits above the tappet filter, those darn things always leak the damping fluid like sunsabitches.

I didn't catch your comment that you weren't building pressure.  Hmmm.  I doubt that's a lifter problem.  A lifter with a flaky check ball/valve will be soft and you will never get it to shut up. 

Does the pinion shaft have a restrictor installed?  It should.

[xlfan]

Did you check pinion shaft run-out and measure pinion bushing clearance to pinion shaft in cam cover?


xlfan

[rittchie66]

No I haven't checked , I got the motor as a rebuilt bottom end from a guy who was having the motor rebuilt at a shop but halfway through decided to buy a complete ultima, so I bought a complete long block and all the pieces to finish it.. So I assumed all that was done, but I'll check it out