Yep, here I am again, figured I would update the post to what my current question is. Basically I am now just curious if an idle oil pressure of about 15 psi is anything to worry about. As my previous topics have mentioned, my pressure is fine under normal driving (40-50 psi) but when idling it drops to about 15 psi. Before I did the auto to manual swap and cam swap it was idling around 35-40 psi. So I am curious if I am chasing ghosts now trying to correct something that is really not a problem. The Team Camaro website had several posts of people with idling oil pressure between 10-20 psi that didn't seem concerned (though it seems pretty low to me...), so I am curious what other people are idling at. It's a 70 Malibu 350 with stock heads, 218/230 @ 0.050" duration cam.

Thanks
Brad

Hey Brad

The rule of thumb is 10 psi for every 1000 rpm. So if you are idleing below a 1000 rpm your good to go.

Did you change the oil line fitting location when you had it down? If you are piping the oil pressure from the front of the engine, it will read about 50% of what it will from the rear near the distributor. I like to see a minimum 18-20 lbs. at a 7oo rpm idle speed, with the engine fully warmed up. OLDED

no, I have the gauge line going to the tap by the distributor...

Brad

Basically I am now just curious if an idle oil pressure of about 15 psi is anything to worry about. As my previous topics have mentioned, my pressure is fine under normal driving (40-50 psi) but when idling it drops to about 15 psi.

Thanks
Brad

I wouldn't worry a bit it I had ~15 psi at 700 rpm idle.

Mike

great, that is good hear. still not sure why the change from before the auto-manual and cam swap though...could a different cam cause the change? I will assume all is well, but no one likes to leave things unexplained....

Thanks for the reassurance guys!
Brad