’67 440 Oil Pressure

Tech Question

mike sinclaire, cromwell, CT, 1967 Plymouth Satellite conv. 440

Hi, I put a used 440 in my car and the oil pressure was ok,60 psi under throttle, 30 at idle.My problem now (a year later) is the oilpressure stays at 30 all the time, full throttle and idle. Car runs great,(too dang much gas though) has lots of power, no ticking, no funny noises.Is this constant 30 psi oil pressure a problem — should I investigatefurther?

Thanks, Mike

Mike-

If the oil pressure stays up at 30 PSI at hot idle, the engine is basicallyhealthy so there’s no need to worry. But the fact that it doesn’t increasemakes me think that there’s some oddball problem in the oil pump, which Iwould change (takes 5 minutes if you’re slow). The old (and veryconservative) rule of thumb: You need 10 PSI of oil pressure for every 1000RPM of engine speed. I.e., 5,000 RPM requires 50 PSI to be safe.

Rick