[64speed]

Is there a reason to spend the roughly double the money on a street engine for the “heavy duty” oil pump driveshaft that Butler sells or will the stock melling get the job done? I am having Paul blueprint my 60PSI standard pump and just wondered if there was any need for it on a purely street engine.

[Mark G]

What's the use of getting oil pump blue-printed then cheap out on the shaft....Do yourself a favor buy a good one ..

[krisr]

Do not cheap out on the oil pump shaft. </thread>

[dataway]

I seriously doubt you would ever have problems with the Melling shaft ... I'm betting the pump is Melling. I've never heard of anyone breaking a Melling oil pump shaft. If you do, you have bigger problems than the shaft.

[steve25]

Just remember this phrase, "what can chew you in the Ass will if you give it the chance"!

Many Moons ago when HO racing was around they had just got in a new batch of oil pump drive shafts that they had been out of for a while and they found out thru many buyers bad luck that they where not up to snuff!

I heard about this and found out that I had one of these defective shafts and I would have had that very day put the motor together with it where it not for me hurting my back at work!

Hindsite was I was very glad to pay the 75 buck Chiropractic bill that day then having to go for 1500 to 2000 bucks down the road to rebuild a new short block and loose out on Summers of driving fun to boot!

[64speed]

I have the melling standard pressure and volume oil pump and driveshaft

[grivera]

The expression "penny wise, dollar foolish" comes to mind. Based on your description of how you'll be using the car your whole build is over the top . Why cheap out on an an inexpensive part so important to the engine?

[Schurkey]

What makes the fancy shaft different from the plain ol' Melling, OTHER than the price and some text "saying" it's "heavy duty"?

IS there a difference in strength?

Has anyone failed an OEM-level oil pump driveshaft that wasn't defective?

[Scott Stoneburg]

All my builds have always used the factory oil pump drive shaft. Ive never had a failure.

[Formulajones]

Ask Paul, he's had a ton of experience with that.

Me personally I like to error on the side of overkill.

My father had a shaft snap in half on his last 455 which lunched an $8,000 engine. Just a freak thing with no apparent reason. Just cruising along about 50 mph coming home form work and bam!! This was after 5 years of flawless performance from this engine. I've posted pics of that on here before and it's puzzled people when they see it. I doubt we are the only ones this has happened to.

I've sort of leaned on the side of buying the good shafts ever since. I've also seen quite a bit of wear on the ends of stock shafts when tearing some of these engines down that bothers me. Those little ears don't look very strong, especially when they have some wear on them. Paul has more experience on the subject, I'd go with his recommendation.

[hurryinhoosier62]

Originally Posted by steve25

Just remember this phrase, "what can chew you in the Ass will if you give it the chance"!

Many Moons ago when HO racing was around they had just got in a new batch of oil pump drive shafts that they had been out of for a while and they found out thru many buyers bad luck that they where not up to snuff!

I heard about this and found out that I had one of these defective shafts and I would have had that very day put the motor together with it where it not for me hurting my back at work!

Hindsite was I was very glad to pay the 75 buck Chiropractic bill that day then having to go for 1500 to 2000 bucks down the road to rebuild a new short block and loose out on Summers of driving fun to boot!

I received one of those oil pump driveshafts. Bent like a pretzel under load but Ken stood behind his warranty and replaced it free of charge.

[Steve C.]

Precision Oil Pumps state their PONTIAC Driveshaft is CNC machined from Billet 4140 Chrome-Moly Steel, Heat-treated with Rockwell Hardness and has a black-oxide finish. These are the strongest on the market. $14.95

Different than a Melling piece ?


.

[Chief of the 60's]

Originally Posted by Mark G

What's the use of getting oil pump blue-printed then cheap out on the shaft....Do yourself a favor buy a good one ..

Originally Posted by krisr

Do not cheap out on the oil pump shaft. </thread>

This ^ ^ ^

You have gone overkill on everything else and now you want to back down on a key piece? Why did you go balls to the walls on everything else? That's like a hockey goaltender buying the best equipment and playing without a face mask.

[HWYSTR455]

I've had 2 occassions where when I tore down an engine found an ear of the shaft in the pan.

I personally prefer the upgraded shafts with the retention tabs. I never reuse shafts either, regardless of their' condition.

.

[HWYSTR455]

Originally Posted by Steve C.

Precision Oil Pumps state their PONTIAC Driveshaft is CNC machined from Billet 4140 Chrome-Moly Steel, Heat-treated with Rockwell Hardness and has a black-oxide finish. These are the strongest on the market. $14.95

Different than a Melling piece ?


.

That's the one I always use, the Precision one, not sure if it is different than the Melling one. It does have the retaining tabs. Melling doesn't list the hardness of their' 'hardened' shaft that I have found.

.

[gtofreek]

Just get the Melling IS54A shaft. It's hardened alloy and they are about $11-$12. Never had a problem with one.

[gtofreek]

Originally Posted by Schurkey

What makes the fancy shaft different from the plain ol' Melling, OTHER than the price and some text "saying" it's "heavy duty"?

IS there a difference in strength?

Has anyone failed an OEM-level oil pump driveshaft that wasn't defective?

If you take a standard shaft, you can carve steel off it with a pocket knife, just like you are whittling wood. The hardened IS54A shaft, you cannot.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by gtofreek

If you take a standard shaft, you can carve steel off it with a pocket knife, just like you are whittling wood. The hardened IS54A shaft, you cannot.

LOL

[Steve C.]

Melling website states the shaft material is "stress proof steel"


.

[1968GTO421]

Originally Posted by gtofreek

Just get the Melling IS54A shaft. It's hardened alloy and they are about $11-$12. Never had a problem with one.

Thanks, Paul. that's what I bought for my engine. Appreciate the advice.