Good idea, will do!

Ill tell you this has been one of the most intresting reads for me in a good long time. Kinda hate, in a crazy sort of way, to see it end.

We bought an excovator for the farm in Pa when I worked for cat. When it came in on trade it was what we needed up there. So the lead machanic and I stayed after work one day and cut all the filters open on the machine. That was I think one of the best 200 bucks I spent in looking at a used piece of equipment. He had a tool cut the top and bottom out of the filter and then he put the element in a vise and squeezed all the oil out of it. Then layed them open on a table to see what was in them. That was the first time I saw anyone do that.

Hopefully it's over?

I am a little concerned that it does not hold more than 10PSI of oil pressure when it gets to full operating temperature.

At cold start up it hits 50psi, and slowly falls as the engine warms up. It levels out at 10. Not sure why that would be, I triple checked the oil pressure relief valve numbers, when I milled the closure plate. The rod / main bearing clearances where all well within spec. The rods were on the high side of the limit, but still well within.

I keep telling myself its an air cooled twin, not an EFI modern liquid cooled motor.

It runs good, RPMs still hunt around a little at full throttle, but once the PTO engages they level out.

For now the plan is to run it. I never listed the MAG20 from the 2072, for sale just in case this KT didn't pan out. As of now, the MAG20 will be hanging around.

I do not have a tool to cut that open, I need to find one. Maybe Grainger.

What weight oil are you using?

Start up was SAE30W, ran that for (2) hours. Changed it to SAE15W40, with new filter also. Exact same PSI senario. It took longer to drop to 10, but it did eventually.

Once it gets to 10, it's steady as a rock. :HeadScratch::HeadScratch:

I suppose I could pull the closure palte back off and make that spring anvil .025" thicker to preload the relief ball more?

But heck 10 may be enough. As long as eveything is GETTING oil, thats the main thing. (at least that's my story, for now.)

I think the important thing is you are getting/circulating oil, as you have found out what happened when you didn’t.
IIRR you didn't replace the 2 main crank bearings, so a little will be lost there as well as the bearing less cam in the block.
On a new engine, I would like to see higher pressures hot but not on something that has some hours on it.
The relief valve really doesn’t come into play till more flow that can be circulated through the system is achieved.
Then the spring/ball allows the excess flow to be bypassed to the sump, as you know.
The #50 cold pressure shows the relief is in the ballpark.
A good design doesn’t over-pump the needed volume of oil as it is just wasted H.P.
Admittedly A small engine like this it is negligible.
A little extra clearance allows good flow and added cooling in the bearing areas.
Just me $.02

I was hoping you would say that:beer2:

On the other hand, if I hadn't added the oil pressure gauge, we wouldn't be having these discussions. I would just be mowing along happy as a clam.

It does not smoke, runs smooth and has lost the tendency to backfire after shut down.

I have some serious tree triming going to take place in the near future, it will be pulling loads of brush and branches with choke chains. If it survives that, I'll breath a little easier.

I think I'd change the oil and go to something like a 20W50, just my 2 cents.

I agree. I'll leave the 15w40 in it until the next change. Then switch to the full syn 20w50, that I run in my Harley.