

| Subject: | Re: 71 Poptop Oil PSI question! |
| Date: | Sat, 1 Jun 1996 14:14:39 -0400 |
Stock OEM oil pressure switches are generally designed to come on at idle (900 to 1000 RPM) at about 2 to 5 PSI (which I think is too low), while the VDO Dual Sender variety comes on about 7 to 10 PSI. My 1600 in my 67 Deluxe runs at about 12 to 15 PSI at idle and about 35 to 40 PSI at highway speeds (60-65 MPH) with a temperature of 180 to 190. Engine has about 12K on it. Sounds like the sender is OK based on your figures provided. Why so low of oil pressure on such a low mileage (7K) engine? It's usually caused by too much clearance in the crank and cam bearing shells or an inadequate pump. Did you re-use the old pump in the rebuild? If so, did you get rid of the grooves that wear in from the pump gears by replacing the cover so that it is perfectly flat against the gears? How about when reassembling the pump back into the case - did you use too much gasket goop between the pump and cover, thus causing the cover to stand too far away from the oil pump gears? I learned the hard way that the cover gasket is THIN for a reason and that is to allow the cover to be as close to the pump gears to allow maximum generation of the oil pressure. Just a thin coat of Gasgacinch (NOT Permatex) is all that's needed to help the THIN cover gasket to do it's job. A lot of overzealous rebuilders can ruin an otherwise good rebuild if they don't install the pump correctly. My .0002 cents worth :-) Jim / BusBoys@aol.com
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