Rebuilt 1.8 with boundary gears and my oil pump failed :(
 

So, a couple months ago, I finished rebuilding the original engine out of my 97. All I did was, had the crankshaft re-surfaced, new rod and main bearings, and replaced original oil pump gears with boundary gears. I did all the work myself, except the re-surfacing of the crank. My oil pump worked perfectly fine (as far as I know) before the rebuild, but for some reason I did ruin two of the rod bearings somehow.

After putting it all together and getting it running again, after 30 miles and a generous amount of idle time while checking things over in the garage, I was driving down the interstate and at a high rev range and my oil pump failed. It makes a really bad noise when I give it any throttle, and the gauge doesn't register any pressure either.

So, I'm not sure whether to blame it on the Boundary gears, or possibly a faulty installation by me. I bought them from a forum member who purchased them in the group buy that went on either last year or maybe 2009, and he mailed them to me with no instructions or paperwork. I didn't think anything of it because I assumed that the installation was very straight-forward since there are only two moving parts, and the gears are completely symetrical, etc.

sad day...

When you say very high revs do you mean 7000rpm or 16,000rpm?

6500. I was doing the 3rd gear redline break-in runs that I read about under the Corky's comments section of Begi's site. On the 3rd run, once I hit redline, I heard 'the noise'.

Did you measure the various gear to gear, and gear to housing clearances?

Oh noes! Did you buy the gears from me?

-----*EDIT*-----------

Checked my e-mails. He did buy them from me!

So sorry Bro, that sucks big time!

I don't know what to say. I sent exactly what I received from Travis @ Boundary still sealed in plastic. The oil pump gears sat quietly in a box in a corner of my basement for two years.

That sucks :(

I didn't measure the gear to gear, since they were new and from a reputable source, but I did measure the gear to housing and it was the same as the stock gears, as well as being within spec.

Yea man I did, MazDilla, I remember the name now. I didn't bother to look through my pm's. Besides, I'm not trying to put the blame on you. But, at this point, I'm not willing to accept responsibility either, lol. I guess I'm just one of the few that should have bought the whole pump assembly from Boundary.

Also, Maz, I'm sure I replied to you upon receiving them, but just to confirm, the gears were in sealed plastic, and were flawless to the naked eye when I received them.

Did you check the oil pressure relief valve (spring + plunger) for smooth operation? They are known to stick open causing low oil pressure.

Are you saying before the rebuild this oil pump caused the motor to fail from low oil pressure?

Open it up, let's see some photos. I've had a couple of oil pump "failures", both caused by stuck relief valves - one with stock gears, one with BE gears. I took those BE gears out of that housing, put them in a new OEM housing, and they were fine.

+1000000 On the stuck relief valve

would for sure check that valve, and dont be starting it up.
Its kinda funny to me all the problembs we have with oil pumps the ford modular v8s have the exact same flaw, as soon as you let off the throttle at 7500+rpms gears shatter billet or not nothing holds up to the vibrations. Though on the mustangs ati dampeners really make em last a lot longer.