I have a '73 ford 2v cleveland in my '56. It has a new oil pump, headwork, and cam. I run synthetic blend in it, I think its 10-40. My guage indicates about 70 psi at idle when cold (goes even higher when I rev it!), and runs about 40 psi at about 2k RPM warm. I'm wondering if I'm risking a bent oil pump drive? Am I scrubbing the bearings with this kind of pressure? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
that's kinda high, I'd worry more about the filter bursting than anything else. Maybe the pump has a high pressure spring in it instead of a normal one? 60 psi should be plenty for an engine that won't see the high side of 6000 rpm. The simple solution is to not rev the engine much until it's warm.
How cold is the motor when you get 70psi? Either way you should be fine. How tight did you run the your main bearings? Does the motor turn over my hand easily? As I can remember the oil filter flap should be good to 90-100psi.
It's not that cold... about 75 to 80 deg F when I start 'er up in the morning. The engine turns over normally by hand. I couldn't start it with a rope or anything but it feels "normal". I didn't do the bottom end when I built the motor, so I don't know about the bearings. It felt ok (no noise, or visible looseness when I moved the crank with the pan off), and had good compression.I have driven the car about 2K miles like this so far. But I don't want to do any unrepairable damage to my cleveland either.
I have a Mellings high pressure pump in my roadster that gives me 70lbs cold with 20w50 Mobil synthetic. Been using it for about 10 years. But it's a Chevy. Mutt
My chevy has about 60lbs on start up and then it drops down to about 50lbs at idle when warm.....motor prolly has 20,000 hard driven miles on it and it has no leaks of any sort and it'll turn 6500 rpm quite happily
Well, That makes me feel a little better... It too is a melling high volume pump. I was curious about the power robbing also.
I had an old mechanic tell me that running really high oil pressure can cause bearings to overheat . His logic was that the oil went through too fast to absorb heat, like not running a thermostat can cause coolant to get too hot. Think there's anything to it ?
i used to work in that industry.. www.stefs.com although the oil pressure is a little on the high side you should be fine.. Good chance the motor has a high pressure spring... "bearing wash" is very uncommon and happens under the most extreme of cir***stances.. again your pessure isn't that high.. don't worry about it...
btw - another bit of advice to you gear heads: DO NOT RUN HIGH VOLUME PUMPS UNLESS YOU NEED EM! Unless you are really running a very raced out motor it's useless. Stock oil pumps usually put out plenty.. especially sbc and bbc chevy's. if anything run a high pressure spring.. The increase oil flow just causes cavitation and increased heat. That's due to the fact that a large volume of the oil is forever circulating from the byp*** valve to the suction end of the pump (typical oil pumps return the byp***ed oil to the suction end of the pump, some high end race pumps spit back into the pan). If you already have one don't freak out thinking you need to replace it.. it's fine.. It's just that it's alot more efficient in most applications and saves you a few bucks as well...
My ford runs 70-75 cold and 50 on the hiway hot, 15,000 miles no problem 20w-50 Mobil synthetic, but it's a ford small block. ...
The 351C likes a bit of oil pressure & I believe Moroso still sells a restrictor kit to keep the top end from over-lubing. You're fine, relax. If you're worried about twisting a pump drive, put a HD one in there. Then relax even more.
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