Jasonty

When I'm driving the car, the little oil pressure gauge reads about 80 psi. Is this normal? I don't know if I should trust the gauge or not... At idle, it reads about 35 psi... I run Royal Purple synthetic oil if that matters...

turtlevette

was the pressure that high with other oil.

it may be that the royal purple has a very high viscosity at operating temp.

Larry B.

My stock 69 427 pegs the gauge when I first start it, even in the summer. When it is up to it's normal 170deg it runs at 70 and idles at 35. And that's with 10W30 dino oil.

munday

mine is 80 lbs even at idle until i drive for about 5 min. then it's 65-75 under throttle and 35 at idle with straight 30 dino

Jasonty

Well, then I'm thinkin I'm ok with 80 psi... I'm not sure what the reading was with the old oil, because I changed it to Royal Purple as soon as I got the car... (October) Thanks yall!

lostpatrolman

Hmm... Im runnign dino oil right now. Less then 2k miles after rebuild. Oil pressure pegs 70 upon initial startup. Once engine is warmed oil pressure is around 20psi at idle and 55psi when driving. Does this sound alright?

Larry B.

Actally that sounds good. Small blocks read the oil pressure at the end of the run..so if they run a little lower that is still ok. 35-40 and 20-30 at idle is fine from the fitting just under the distributor. BB's read right off of the oil filter so they tend to read a little higher.

norvalwilhelm

My bigblock pegs the needle cold and when up to temperature still runs about 70 psi under low revs and idles right around 50 psi. Even hot it will peg the need if pushed.

Surfer69

Norval, how do you get such good pressure? Did you build to very tight tolerances?