<VV> Oil Pressure Question

[Mark Durham]

Bob's right, there isn't much official data. The pump is the first
place to check, make sure your gears are not worn, and the housing,
too. You may also have a leak at the pressure relief, its an easy
check. If it is worn at all, replace it. Plus, if you do that, then get
Clark's high pressure spring too. Oil pressure is a function of pump
output versus calibrated leaks. A good pump pumps 9 gal a minute, per
my 62 manual, and you build pressure when you do not flow the 9 gal a
minute, to the relief valve setting, which bypasses what cannot go thru
the bearings lifters, etc. Mark Durham

Sent from my Windows Phone
From: BobHelt at aol.com
Sent: 5/7/2012 9:20
To: bgilbert at gilberts-bc.ca; virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re: <VV> Oil Pressure Question
Hello Bob,
May I suggest that you are delving into the black unknown here with  your
inquiry?
There are no specs for pressures made via end plate clearances, and highly
unlikely that there is any VALID experimental data either. Set it to the
specs  and forget it.

In addition there is no pressure spec for 2500 rpm.  So I suggest  you
stick with the known specs and data, The important data point is what  pressure
do you get at a normal idle speed with a HOT engine and spec'd oil  grade?
More too...If I remember correctly, the original spec was for a minimum  of 4
PSI. but the oil light is controlled by the snap switch and there are
several types in use with different pressure activation points. So the best
thing is to install an accurate pressure gauge and measure the pressure at a
hot  idle. That is your basic criterion. it should be about 10-15 PSI min.

Then if you are interested, measure the hot pressure at 4000 rpm and see
what you get. The spec varies slightly from engine to engine (em vs late
basically). But 40 PSI is about max. If the idle pressure is around 10-15  psi,
then you can stretch the pressure relief spring slightly to increase the
max pressure. The max pressure is NOT critical though as long as it is in the
40  PSI ballpark.

IF and I say IF, your pressures are low, look first to the camshaft bearing
 clearances. Then to the endplate clearance.

Good luck,
Regards,
Bob Helt


In a message dated 5/7/2012 7:58:06 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
bgilbert at gilberts-bc.ca writes:

Assuming  for the moment that the engine is OK and the problem is with the
oil pump,  is it in fact OK to run with 20 PSI? Given that GM engineered the
oil  pressure light to come on at about 5-6 PSI, then could one assume  that
anything over that is "good enough". Is it ?



Put  another way, 45 PSI of oil pressure sounds better than 35 PSI and  that
sounds better than 25 PSI and so on but does it really make any  difference
-
assuming that the motor is in good  shape?


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