If a bearing gets one drop of oil from the pump every time a drop goes back into the pan from seepage, the bearing will be fully lubricated with zero oil pressure. That's why I say that even one pound of oil pressure at every place that needs lubrication means that the pump is supplying more oil than the engine needs. The only reason pressure builds up is the fact that the pump is supplying more oil than necessary to lube the engine. The trick is getting that oil flow all the way to the last bearing in the chain. On a hydraulic lifter engine, the lifters probably consume a lot more oil than the bearings do. On the small block Chevy race engines with solid lifters, we put 1/16" diameter restrictors in the lifter galleries to force more oil to the lower end, especially when running increased-clearance race bearings and/or a crankshaft ground .001" undersize. A brand new race engine has more clearance built in everywhere than a 100K mile street engine. Doing race engine stuff on one that's built for street use is beyond stupid- - - -we expected to get maybe 1K miles from that round track engine before it wore out or blew up.
Jerry
