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New 440 build oil pressure

Sonny

Sonny

It’s all fun til the rabbit gets the gun.
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Start up and break in on my new 440 went well but oil pressure is lower than I was expecting. Using VR1 10-30 racing oil and getting about 18lbs at hot idle in gear. Haven’t hit the road yet but reving the engine gets to 45. Is 10-30 too thin for a big block?
 
My last 440 had the same exact pressure, hot idle in gear Gauge was a little under 20psi I would throw it in neutral at stop lights to bump it up a little past 20.
 
You said in another post you were doing it Sat; what happened?
 
I would not worry about 18 psi at idle. Remember, it's flow that matters, not pressure.

Believe it or not, the Cadillac Northstar is factory spec'd for a "minimum" of 5 psi at idle. In actuality, I believe they live closer to 20. Now I'm not saying that I would not be a little more than a bit concerned if I had a gauge on it and saw that, but the point is that the engineers understood that 5 psi would suffice at 650 RPM.
 
10 PSI per 1000 rpm, per Chrysler Engineering - Direct Connection manuals.
 
Yep, what odcics2 said. Just some trivia. Did you know that the factory oil pressure sending unit for the light are 2-5 lbs for the light to go off.
 
odcics2 said:
10 PSI per 1000 rpm, per Chrysler Engineering - Direct Connection manuals.
Click to expand...
That’s good because I just took it out for a test drive and I’m getting about 35 psi at 40 miles an hour and about 12 psi at idle in gear.
 
Back then, they recommended straight 30 weight for "racing" use.
Oil today is much better.
:thumbsup:
 
Sonny said:
Start up and break in on my new 440 went well but oil pressure is lower than I was expecting. Using VR1 10-30 racing oil and getting about 18lbs at hot idle in gear. Haven’t hit the road yet but reving the engine gets to 45. Is 10-30 too thin for a big block?
Click to expand...

I agree that your oil pressure is enough.

However, it does seem that maybe it is lower than it should be. So, said differently, your oil pressure is adequate, but it may, or may not be right, depending on the details of your build.
 
BSB67 said:
I agree that your oil pressure is enough.

However, it does seem that maybe it is lower than it should be. So, said differently, your oil pressure is adequate, but it may, or may not be right, depending on the details of your build.
Click to expand...
Other than a slightly oversized cam, I had them build it to stock Tolerances.
 
Easy to adjust on a big block you can shim your pressure spring to increase pressure. Half hour job at the most. Or you can get different springs at places like Mancini Racing.If it bothers you.
 
Darter6 said:
Easy to adjust on a big block you can shim your pressure spring to increase pressure. Half hour job at the most. Or you can get different springs at places like Mancini Racing.If it bothers you.
Click to expand...
There has to be other places to buy springs from.
 
440SOURCE has an adjustable pressure thingy that you can install and adjust while it’s running. Best of all it’s only 25 bucks or so.
 
5.7 hemi said:
440SOURCE has an adjustable pressure thingy that you can install and adjust while it’s running. Best of all it’s only 25 bucks or so.
Click to expand...
Looks like the ticket. Anyone use one?
 
Adjusting the relief valve spring will not change the idle oil pressure.

To increase the idle oil pressure at idle will require longer rotors (high volume)
 
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