Disabling VRO oil intake.

[Quintin66]

Howdy fellas, long time no see.
Couple years ago I got a hankerin' for a center-console, so I went and bought a Fisherman 180 with a 115hp, circa 1979. It took a bit but she's running good. Well, the guy I bought her from, a marina owner, talked me into another one, an 86 model, with a 150hp VRO. For $500.00 I couldn't say no. I'm just getting her trimmed out to run, carbs are freshened, new h2O pump, some new fuel line here an there. As normal for most old motors, the oil line to the vro pump was disconnected...but on this one it wasn't plugged, it was flat missing. Someone just took it off and threw it away. I couldn't tell from the rotten gas I got outa the tank wether it was mixed or not, maybe disconnecting the oil line was as far as they got and abandoned the boat.

 

[Quintin66]

Somehow half my post disappeared, the good part! Anyhow, if using the vro pump and plugging the oil intake, wouldn't it be prudent to slit the diaphragm on the oil side so it doesn't hinder or slow the pump?

 

[jakedaawg]

nope

 

[Quintin66]

So how is it that the pump is not affected by the oil side check valve still working properly to pump something into the system? This design is positive displacement and works like a pneumatic sump pump does. It seems that if you drilled a hole in the check valve it would relieve the pump on the oil side and it would work much more efficiently.

 

[jakedaawg]

You just dont need to. more chance of harming something than doing good. Its been years since I tore one apart but it is not necessary. The pump works of vacuum pulses and puts no load on the engine.

 

[jakedaawg]

i suppose if you want to get technical that it puts an ifintesibly small, un-measurable load on the engine.

 

[Quintin66]

Actually, what's been rolling around in my head is not that it strains the engine at all, but that it puts the fuel pump in a bind, not being able to pump something. I mean, I know there's 100's of thousands of them running fine out there this way, oil side plugged and running mix, but I see a lot of people posting about bogging issues at high rpm... I was just wondering if maybe they have a fuel shortage problem caused by the pump not stroking at 100%. I know, I know....time to shut up now.