Hi,All. I just got a 429CJ Mustang and have been working out a huge amount of kinks. The motor has obviously been rebuilt recently with a radical cam and other performance mods. After a lot of tuning, I got the car to SCREAM!! I thought that the oil gauge was broken when I got the car, but have now found after installing a mechanical gauge that there is NO oil pressure coming from the top of the motor. I removed the fitting and oil just trickles out from the hole, even at high RPM. There is no way this car runs this good with no oil pressure. There is no lifter noise, the engine runs cool, it doesn't diesal, and I have driven the car 50 or so miles and I have flogged the car, power shifting through all gears and melting the back tires and snapping my neck in the process. Is there any way that during the rebuild any performance or other mods could have been done to cause this problem. I've already pulled the distributor to check the drive gear and oil pump drive, and they're fine. It even has a brand new big beafy moly drive. Please help!! I would hate to have to tear this motor down as good as it's running. I'm trying to get info from the last owner to contact the builder if possible. Thanks!! Kevin.  

I hear ya Kevin I would be concerned too. I am not an expert on the 429 and not much knowledge of its internals. Sometimes when builders build performance engines they play around with the oil passage restrictors in an attempt to insure oil priority to the mains and rods. That may be why you arent seeing much or any oil at the top of the engine but that would still concern me. Often builders will restrict the flow to the cam and lifters and sometimes drill a hole thru the front of the block oil pad to provide oil in the timing chain area. It is possible that these mods have nearly shut off the flow to the top of the engine, you need to talk to the engine builder to find out what he did. Also the oil passage to your gauge may be blocked by something, I would take it off and see if you can clear it by using a small wire. Also look at where the gauge is getting its reading,,, is it low on the block or is it in the passage way to the lifters or where ? I dont think your going to solve it until you talk with the engine builder.  

Try this site:
http://429mustangcougarinfo.50megs.com/  

Hey Kevin,under the intake manifold on the 429/460 there is a stand coming off the lifter valley floor. This stand is suppose to have a oil restrition plug in it and sometimes when they are rebuilt people take the plug out and forget to put a new one in, and they act just like you are discussing here. I know it is a P.I.T.A. to pull the intake but don't drive it any more until you find the problem. Look at the stand it is kinda "Y" shaped it should not have any open holes. I think I got my restrictor plugs at a NAPA. Good luck I hope you find the problem. Tom  

Thanks for the reply, Brent!! I'll try your wire idea. I did try blowing through with compressed air(kinda messy-lol). Hopefully I'll be able to reach the builder. Thanks, again! Kevin.  

Hi, Tom! Thanks for the post! Last night I decided to pull a valve cover and see what the oiling situation was like. The good news- nice well adjusted vintage Sig Erson roller rockers, factory screw in studs and guide plates, and no signs of abnormal wear. The bad news- one slightly bent pushrod and almost no oil coming out of the pushrod holes while the car was running. There was some oil around the top of the head, but nothing like I'm used to seeing. I've always run 351 CJ's, and adjusting the valve train with the motor running always resulted in a huge mess from oil squirting up out of the oil holes. It really looks like this motor was done right. It has new triple valve springs, I guess the cam is hydralic as there is no tappet noise you'd hear from a solid cam, looking through the distributor hole I can see large letters painted on the crank, it has a big oil pump drive, etc. `Let me know if you have any other ideas. I'll pull the intake week after next when I get some time off. Thanks!!! Kevin