[andrewT]

Car is a 72 Lemans, 488, half filled block, 305cfm Alum D-Ports, 2"header, cam is 270 dur close to 650 lift, 11:1 CR, Torker 2 port matched, and a small 850 holley to get it started up for now

Ran it for half an hour and broke in the cam per Comp's recommendations and set the idle just fine after that. My main concern is oil pressure...at the end of the cam break-in the water temps were around 205 and the oil pressure was reading close between 0-12psi at idle. I have the 80lb pump in my car, all ports and passages have the proper plugs, etc.
This has me worried since most what I read on here guys say they are getting 30psi at idle. As soon as I give a quick rev to 2000rpm the pressure comes up to about 30psi, and during the cam break-in at 2500rpm cold I had about 60psi, which as it got warmer ended up being closer to 40psi
Break in oil was Brad Penn 30 weight. Talking with some local guys they say put the inner valve springs back in,keep the break-in oil and drive it a bit to seat the rings, and watch oil pressure the whole time, then drain the oil and go from there.

what say ye ponti-yakers? I don't want to hurt anything!

thanks fellas

[Hooter]

I had a similar experience on the dyno using the same Brad Penn 30wt break in oil. The guy that owned the dyno said he's not a fan of their break in oil and we put in some Gibbs 20/50. Great oil pressure after that. Still shaking my head on that one. I switched back to the Brad Penn 20/50 on the next oil change and still had good oil pressure. I'm running the Butler pro pump which is a 80 psi also.

[charlie66]

I would try it with 20/50 in the motor. That's thin oil. Sounds low for a fresh build.

Also make sure your gage is correct . What line are you using? The plastic line or the copper? And where are you hooking up the line from. The oil housing or back by the distributor?

[455abody]

I had a little low pressure at hot idle, 15 pounds and switched up to Brad Penn 15w40 it raised up to around 20 pounds. I would probably go up to 20/50 Best of luck! Brian

[steve25]

My big concern here is that you have never seen the pumps 80 psi of pressure even at the first firing of the motor regardless of having break in oil in the motor!

I would now change out the oil , fire the motor and if you do not see that 80 psi within 5 seconds shut the motor down and then unfortunately it will be time to find out why that is!

Good luck to you!

[Jim Zeek]

did you prime the motor with a drill before firing it up? I always do it and spin the motor over by hand while drill is running. it should tell you what idle pressure will be

[andrewT]

Thanks for the replies fellas

The gauge is an electric and I am taking the reading off the back by the distributor.

I did sping with a drill last year when I first dropped the motor in and I used a mechanical gauge and got around 75psi...this electric Auto meter gauge has very wide increments so its hard to tell an exact reading.

I will try it again this weekend and see what happens. Another common thing I am reading on other threads is debris getting under the check ball and affecting the oil pressure.. Looks like I'll have to check that out too

[charlie66]

hook up the mechanical gage and run the engine...

[andrewT]

Originally Posted by charlie66

hook up the mechanical gage and run the engine...

thats the plan! will report back

[chiefbigb]

The port in the filter base is pre-filter I believe. You can check it there as well and see if your filter is the cause of your low reading after the filter

[GTOGEORGE]

Change oil pump!


GTO George

[lakefect]

cut the oil filter open and look for bearing spec, sounds like it eating itself up

[Stormin]

Lift up the rad cap...... slide a new car under it!

Hi Andrew!!

[andrewT]

Well gents I put the mechanical gauge on, by the distributor and the most pressure I was getting, even cold was 70psi...The gauge didn't read below 20psi at idle until I got the car up to temps around 240 (I know I know)..proceeded to seat the rings and now when I throw into 3rd gear under anything less than WOT the car nose dives and dies...

Anyways, should I be satisfied with 15-20 psi at warm-to-hot idle? Under throttle its reading fine, an extra 10psi per rpms. This is still with the brad penn oil, going to drain and throw in some 50 weight next to see what happens. I am positive I bought an 80lb pump, which is whats throwing me off, although it may have been a 60...

Originally Posted by Stormin

Lift up the rad cap...... slide a new car under it!

Hi Andrew!!

Hahaha Norm, I've seen the ride, its looking awesome man!!

hope you're well brother!

[steve25]

Sounds like a 60 psi pump if it's only hitting 70 cold!

Did it come with 2 springs?

[70 bird]

Change out the break in oil and look for metal/cut filter open. What were the bearing clearances set at?? I have a 351w with .003 bearing clearance that has 15 psi. warm at idle. I have been beating the snot out of that engine with a turbo for 3 years with no problems.

[Dragncar]

Something is wrong here. My old 455 done in 1990 still has 60-65 lbs during warm up with fresh oil. Has 50lbs hot at idle.
I would cut the filter in half like right now.

[Mike Davis]

Who built the engine?
I would ask that person for a recommended oil weight as they should know the clearances.

20/50 is way to thick in todays world.
I run 5/30 RP XPR, 80 Cold, 30 Hot Idle, 70PSI at 7200 RPM.

[steve25]

20/50 is way to thick for production cars these days yes,but not all race motors by any means!

I agree that on a fresh motor with a 80 psi pump you should have over 20 psi hot even if your main and Rod clearances are up near .003" especially if your idle rpm is close, to or over 1K!

If it where me I would have dissected the filter by now!

If the filter checks good then hope for the bypass check ball to be clamping down on a piece of crap that was missed!

[JSPONT]

Sounds like you have an issue, cut the filter, then fix the cooling system. 240 degrees is way to hot.