I'm doing a complete overhaul on a 5.4 3V out of a 2009 F150 Platinum. This is going to be a stock engine rebuild and I don't plan on beating the snot out of this engine.

-Melling 10341: 60PSI or 80PSI relief spring?
-Main bearings: Are Clevite Trimetal P-Series ok in lieu of stock Bi-metal / aluminum?
-LOTS of varnish and some minor sludge. For cleaning cylinder heads will certain chemicals damage the valve seals? Any recommendations to safely clean?

I ended up getting a Melling 10341 oil pump which is apparently the performance version of the M340HV. It offers high volume (+20%) and also the option of stock 60 PSI oil relief or 80 PSI oil relief depending which spring you use.
If I'm increasing the volume and all my bearing clearances are good and on the tight end of spec, should I go with the 60 or the 80 PSI relief? There's a lot of information out there to absorb and I've tried to do a lot of research on this but keep getting mixed results whether to go with 60PSI vs 80PSI relief. Apparently the 80 PSI is recommended for the 4v variation of this engine.

I'm under the impression that the relief will likely never operate unless at higher RPMs or if the engine is really cold (which is another variable, we get -40F winters here)
Currently leaning towards going with the stock 60 PSI relief. Any thoughts?

And for my second question about bearings-
Clevite offers Bimetal (A series/ aluminum) or Trimetal (P series) for the main bearings. I think stock the mains and rods were of the bi-metal variant. I wound up getting the trimetal for the mains just because I couldnt get my hands on the bimetal / aluminum bearings at the time.
Supposedly the trimetals hold up better for performance engines and are a harder bearing. Should I make an effort to go with the bimetal mains or are the trimetals ok?

From what I gather the aluminum bearings are better in some regards because they have better 'embedability' so that oil contaminants lodge into the bearing and don't score the crank. The downside is they are a softer material- the trimetals are harder and hold up better but don't offer the same contaminant protection.

Things I'm replacing:
-New Melling oil pump 10341
-New Cam Phasers, Timing components, VCT solenoids
-New Updated Rocker Arms with revised smaller orifice (rollers)
-New lifters
-New Clevite Main and Rod bearings

Open to any and all feedback if there's anything else I should look into while I have the engine torn out.

 

Don't worry about the valve seals, you should replace them anyway. Aren't you pulling the heads and rebuilding them too?

 

he/she/it best be

 

Hey GLC, good to hear from you again.. you offered advice around 10 years ago on my last rebuild!

I was planning on doing a leakdown test. If there's minimal / no leakage I was going to try and avoid removing the heads.
But at this point, it might be another $1000 for head gaskets, bolts, machining to do the rings/pistons as well. Maybe I should just go ahead with that as well.

This was a perfectly fine running motor when I pulled it with 100,000 miles on it. The issues that made my pull it were a leaky rear main seal and valve train noise.
I found a collapsed chain tensioner and both had the seals blown out.

 

I'm only a shadetree mechanic but I would go with OE bearings. Main and rod bearings have not been an issue with these engines that I know of. I would also go with the 60 psig oil pump spring using the high volume oil pump that fordtechmakuloco recommends. How do the cam "bearings" look? Use Ford tensioners/chains/ phasers. I don't know how difficult it is to replace the valve seals but that is something I would do. Perhaps, a little valve seat lapping would be a good thing too which should be something you could so yourself. 100k miles is a low miles engine these days.

 

I'd go with the Melling HV360 pump like you are, and OEM parts.

I have worked with folks that get a rebuilt engine and pop on the Melling HV360 and get many miles out of the rebuilt engine -- much, much more than with the stock oil pump.

I actually have 2 of the Ford OEM oil pumps sitting in my shop right now that I was left with.