Thread: oil pressure drop

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having a serious problem with a oil pressure on a 327. the oil pressure was fine then i had a set of 461 double humps redone. put on permatourqe felpro gaskets from the heads up. replaced the canister oil filter w/ spin on style. got everything dialed in fired it up oil psi was at 20, warmed up to 180 degrees oil psi at 0. dropped the oil pan no metal in it bearings seem ok. no metal in oil filter either. removed the oil pump relief spring seems to be working ok. no oil in the valvetrain either. can't figure this one out need some help i'm stumped!

There is no reason for low oil pressure with the things you did to your engine. Therefore my first guess would be a faulty gauge. If it is electric, maybe you had a poor connection. If it is mechanical, then it's time for a new one.

You say you had no oil in the valve train, were the lifters rattling? Are they hydralic?

Gasket may be incorrect one and blocking up oil hole, especially if no oil in valve train? Not very famailar with Chevy engines.


Jack

Put the can-type filter back. The only thing you did to the oiling system was that change, so it has to be the problem. I've seen it happen on a 283, the adapter was not the right one somehow.

The only thing could be is the filter or what evere you did there. I would take that back apart and see what is wrong... Then I would run a pump drive and make sure I had oil everywhere before starting it. If you got to 180 you could have done damage to the brg. runing that long. I don't recommend starting any engine after rebuild with out first running the oil pump to get oil on top. If its on top it should be everywhere else.

There is nothing in the heads to stop oil presure

it has solid lifters and a new mechanical gauge. I haven't took the intake off and tried to prime to look for any oil flow. don't really know of anything else to do. I don't want to take the heads off but might end up having to..

Originally Posted by JD649

replaced the canister oil filter w/ spin on style.

It has already been said twice and I will concur, it has to be the filter adapter.

4th~Something with the oil filter adapter.

There is no reason to pull the intake or heads just yet. If you killed it right before or right when it hit 0-psi, it may live. You can pull the distributor to prime the oil pump shaft. Don't run it anymore until you get oil pressure primed back up.

What type of oil filter are you using?

Some of the Fram filters will collapse very easily. I have seen a TON of racing engines expire that way.

Try a Napa Gold filter if the oil filter that you are using has collapsed. Also, very good advise above.

thanx for all the help. I'm going to put the canister back on and see if that helps out

Originally Posted by JD649

I haven't took the intake off and tried to prime to look for any oil flow. don't really know of anything else to do. I don't want to take the heads off but might end up having to..

You should never start an engine until you have primed the oil pump and confirmed that you have oil flow into the valve train. Having oil flow into the valve train pretty much assures you've got oil into the crank and cam bearings. You don't need to take off the intake or the heads to confirm oil flow, just look for it at your rocker arms. Oil gets to your rocker arms thru the push rods.

Do you know how to spin your oil pump before installing your distributor?

Ok 649, we are all dying here. How long does it take to change the damn filter? Tell us what is going on already....