LOW OIL PRESSURE

[55chevy]

Here's my delima... I just got done rebuilding the engine in my Nova and drove it to work today for the first time. It runs good. Oil pressure: It has around 60lbs at startup.. after warm it carries around 40-45lbs all the time (while driving) but when I come to a stop and it idles in gear it quickly drops to 10lbs or less.. if I hold it at around 1100rpm it'll hold around 20lbs but soon as I let it go back to idle it drops back down. ... what is WRONG???? and how long can I expect this engine to last doing this??? I'm out of money AND patience with this thing... ...........help

[camarojoe]

I have always heard that as long as you have at least 10 psi per 1000 rpms, you have sufficient oil pressure.

[55chevy]

[ QUOTE ]
I have always heard that as long as you have at least 10 psi per 1000 rpms, you have sufficient oil pressure.

[/ QUOTE ]

This engine just seems to be carrying pressure differently than all the other SBCs I've had.. This being the only one I've completly rebuilt myself (so far) I thought maybe I missed something somewhere.. (internal leak??..blow by?? something??).. The pressure goes up and down quickly with the rpms. .. Or am I just paranoid with my own work?

[Pantera]

I.m betting on a weak oil pressure by-pass spring it the oil pump.

Pantera

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Did you install a new high volume oil pump, or the standard one?

[budnate]

sounds like a bad or wrong application oil pump, I accidently stuck a BB oil pump on a SB once as a kid and it did about the same thing, was told by the parts guy it was pumping everything up ontop and starving the pickup... sorry Ed probably the last thing you want to do is deal with getting at the pump for a look at it.

Bud.

[55chevy]

It's a new Melling pump.. I'm pretty sure it's just the stock replacement.

[Mr. T]

On all the SBC engines I have rebuilt in the past, there has only been one time that I witnessed sparatic oil pressures at different rpm's. It was an easy fix, and believe it or not, the oil pressure sending unit was faulty. I installed a new one, and the oil pressure at idle increased by 10 psi.

[55chevy]

Think I should try a better oil pressure guage first?
I got the high dollar $9.99 Harbor Frieght triple guage package special in use at the moment...

[Pantera]

Come by and I will loan you a SW gauge. It still does not sound like a gauge problem but you just never know. Like I told you in the email this morning to check it out first.

Pantera