Oil pump soaking in Carb Cleaner - bad idea?

[kurtwwalters]

I'm soaking my fuel pump from my 70 z in a bucket of Berryman's. I didn't think about it at the time, but is this a bad idea? Are there rubber/plastic parts that react badly to carb cleaner?

Since I have it all apart - if I decide to or have to replace it, I saw on my Ztherapy video he recommends replacing with a 280zx oil pump. Anyone done this or know about it? Thank you in advance...

[beermanpete]

You say oil pump in the title and fuel pump in the text.

The oil pump does not have any rubber parts but should be disassembled for cleaning and inspection.

The fuel pump has rubber parts which might be damaged by the carb dip. The fuel pump should also be disassembled for cleaning and inspection.

[siteunseen]

Everything I've read says the '83 ZX Turbo oil pump has a bigger rotor/blade than the others and flows more oil. "How to Rebuild L Series" by Tom Monroe says "it will put more of a load on the distributor and oil pump drive gear and is not something to add to your engine unless specificly needed". Maybe someone will tell us if more is better or not.

[steve91tt]

Depending where you get the oil pump it can have higher flow than stock or it can provide higher maximum pressure than stock. The high flow pumps came on the turbo Z's and other cars with similar motors. If you request an oil pump for a stock 240Z from your local autoparts store they will likely hand you a high flow pump. The only way to tell which one you have is to remove the bolts holding the two halves of the pump together and measure the rotor. If I remember correctly the high flow rotor is 40mm long. If you take the pump apart you will need a new gasket from MSA (<$1). I tried replacing the gasket with a thin coat of RTV when I took mine apart but the RTV was thinner than the stock paper gasket which caused interference issues internally in the pump. The maximum pressure for these pumps is controlled by a spring on the internal relief valve. MSA has higher pressure springs. Higher flow or higher pressure will cause more drag on the engine but I'm not sure it matters. I run turbo pumps on both of my 240's as I'd rather have a little more oil than a little more horsepower. If it were me I'd take it apart and make sure everything is in good shape while you have it off of the car.

[siteunseen]

Read this on Connecticut Z Car Club "Because my old oil pump was so worn I went ahead and replaced it with a new L-series turbo model from Black Dragon Auto. The one sold by MSA and the Nissan dealer were too pricey for me, the Black Dragon model was only $69.

The model Black Dragon sent me is an ITM brand 057-1057. It’s nicely machined aluminum and appears physically identical to the Nissan pump. I opened the case up and it does have the 40mm long rotor, so this is the high volume turbo model. When I started my engine it idled at 20psi and goes up to 40psi at 2000rpm, and 60psi at 3000 and up…creating constant high pressure. This is different from the older pumps I’ve had which only added 10psi per 1000rpm.

ITM interestingly lists two other models for the 280ZX turbo manual trans and turbo auto trans engines but I can’t find those pumps for sale online. Their website lists the 057-1057 for the cars below, I suspect this supercedes those older L-series models".

I think that's the one for me. Sorry Mr. Monroe but I agree with steve91tt, more is better for my car.

[Bruce Palmer]

Just guessing here but the turbo pump should be about more volume as it had to not only supply the engine oiling galleys and bearings but the turbo system outside the block. I ran the high volume pump on my LZ four and went back to the stock volume pump because the high volume pump was piling up too much oil on top of the head essentilly drowning the valve seals.

Pressure should be controlled to a fair extent by bearing clearances. The more worn the engine the lower the pressure over the span. That's why people keep wanting to stuff thicker oil into old motors to slow down the flow with the idea that that is going to increase the pressure..... Just sayin'

[steve91tt]

Good point Bruce. I agree, if you put too much oil into the head then it may not be able to drain back fast enough. However, I believe the amount of oil that moves into the head is a function of pressure not volume. The turbo pump creates more pressure below the threshold of the relief valve because it pumps more oil. If both pumps have the same relief valve and thus the same maximum pressure then the same amount of oil will end up in the head. The turbo pump will just dump more through the pressure relief system when the RPMs are high enough to reach the maximum pressure. When the RPMs and pressure are lower than the set relief pressure then the turbo pump will deliver more pressure per RPM and that pressure is inversely proportional to the clearances in your bearings. In other words, I think that an older engine will benefit more from a high volume pump than a newer, tighter engine but if the pressure relief system is working correctly neither should have over oiling problems.

[siteunseen]

I'm refreshing mine, new rings and bearings, so I like what y'all are saying. You guys are great! Thank You.

[sblake01]

I had a 'turbo' oil pump on my 78 but I also had a deep pan and oil cooler and dual remote oil filters. With that extra oil capacity, I figure that I was probably just a little better than 'break even' over a stock pump w/o those components. Never gave me any oil related problems over the almost 13 years I owned it.