Guys,
Thanks for the series of great ideas and insights...I am operating on a few assumptions, some of which could actually be...a little weak. OK...
1. find bearing debris in the
oil-filter and you tear it down the engine to clean out the passages...period.
2.
oil filters have a bypass for cold high/pressure, so garbage can go past them to the
oil passages
3. oil coolers made with multiple layers can be assumed to be contaminated and reuse them at your own risk.
4. ignoring repeated intermittent low oil pressure in a road-race application, you will eventually ruin something. there are other ways to ruin stuff but you can count on this one.
5. exceptions exist to ALL the above, and others...just assume the risk that come along with that and don't whine...
I may have jumped to conclusions to pull the engine, and THEN the pan. May still pull the pan before pulling the engine , but if there is junk in the filter I can get away with replacing a few bearings?
Hate working on my back. Iff there is bearing damage it means pulling it anyway ? I am forever the pessimist.
If it gets torn down I will do as good a post-mortem as I can. Any event can't pull the engine for several weeks. Curiosity is killing us...(me...!).
Along the line of dropping oil pressure due to pan problems, I am thinking about how to replace the crank scrapper I removed and still retain the lower end support. Wondering about something flexible that would bolt to the support and conform to the pan.
Thanks, Pete