Stuart wrote
 It's the rod bearings that tend to fail rather than the mains.  They
are
 smaller, thinner and less well oiled.

Stuart and the list

The rods on the 2.1 engine fail not for lack of oiling but because the
big end of the rod
goes out of round over time at 150k miles all 2.1 engines have some
degree of  con rod big end
distortion
The 1.9 has the same rod and it never fails the difference is the bolt
that's used
On the 2.1 engine the bolt is the stretch to yield type
If somebody had this problem of low oil pressure and it turned out to be
out of round con rods
 with proper inspection and measuring the main bearings could
conceivably be used over
or change the rods and rod bearing without splitting the case and keep
the beast going
for a while longer
beefing up the oil pump is not a good idea to much oil pressure could
create other problems
like over pumping the lifters or giving the owner a false sense of
security when it comes to oil lights and buzzers staying off. the rod
will still blow because the clearance is to big no matter how much the
pressure is boosted
Both brands of wbx engine gasket sets have a pump cover gasket that
measures between .008th and .006ths thick. the part # for the gasket is
the same as a bug. those have always measured .004ths thick when the oil
pump cover gasket thickness is doubled the oil pressure drops sometimes
as much as 50%

Bob Donalds
http://www.bostonengine.com
as always
all rights reserved.