maximum oil pressure ?

[DHMag]

i installed my mechanical gauges today and am very pleased with the results, though i have one question. as i hotrodded thru the neighborhood, my oil pressure got as high as 85 PSI. i dont recall my RPMs but ill say i was heavy into the throttle. at hot idle, its at 15 PSI, cold idle 60 PSI.

TIA

 

[89 black SHO mtx]

sounds like you have some cam bearings worn out for it to drop to 15 psi? send sdpatt or rangerj a message and ask them about the oil pressure. i usually rebuild non sho engines so i'm not sure on that. we hardly ever get a SHO in the shop.

 

[MeShoHorny]

Hot idle @ 15psi is just fine. Now worries.

 

[SHOZ123]

Yes, the 15 lbs at hot idle is good. I think the oil light starts to flicker at ~6-7 lbs.

 

[Ishodu]

I thought that a new sho motor was rated at like 12.7 at hot idle? I notice that the oil takes longer to thin out that the temp of the coolant takes to rise. When my car gets up to 190F right after its been cool its oil pressure will be high at idle than it will be after it has been driven around at 190 for say half an hour. Try driving around for a while then check the hot idle.

 

[SLOSHO89]

DHMag
at hot idle, its at 15 PSI, cold idle 60 PSI.

Nice numbers.

 

[shojuan]

ishodu:
I thought that a new sho motor was rated at like 12.7 at hot idle? I notice that the oil takes longer to thin out that the temp of the coolant takes to rise. When my car gets up to 190F right after its been cool its oil pressure will be high at idle than it will be after it has been driven around at 190 for say half an hour. Try driving around for a while then check the hot idle.

That's typical. It can take 20 minutes or so for the oil temperatures to get up to the full hot temperature. Oil temperature always lags behind coolant temperature.

 

[SHOZ123]

The purpose of the oil/water heat exchange we have is to bring the oil temp up to the coolant temp and to dump excess heat into the coolant. Flow through the Hx does not happen until the t-stat opens.

On my '97 I had the Hx get clogged up on the coolant side of a used motor with only 500 miles on it. It sat with the coolant lines off and a bug or something made a home in there. I always check for flow through the coolers now whenever the hoses are off.

 

[drivinhard]

It usually takes about 20-25 miles of driving to get the oil and tranny temp up in my 89. At the track, the oil/coolant temps always stabilize the same, both at 200-210 depending on ambient heat, etc.

 

[DHMag]

ok, it seems i forgot to ask a question...during high RPMs, is it normal for the oil pressure to be upwards 80-90 PSI ?

thanks for the input guys