good day everyone, I just finished a rebuild after the car sat for nearly 2 years. and i have a concern about the oil pressure. from what I read it seems to be on the boarder. Thought i'd post and see what some of the experts have to say. First I'd like to say that the rebuild started with a mechanic that I ended up taking the car back and reassembling everything myself. he sent the block and head to a machine shop and had the rods resized, and crank casing align honed, which i did not ask to be done. so here is a list of components of rebuild
2.3 stroker
manley 100mm forged crank
ACL race main bearing standard w/extra oil clearance (suggest by the mechanic)
ACL race rod bearings w/extra oil clearance (suggested by the mechanic)
wiseco 1400HD
new oil case
new water pump
new belts
balance shaft elim kit with new bearings, installed with oil passages being blocked (holes are 90 degrees from each other)
kiggly HLA pressure regulator
new ferrea vales
supertech seals and guides
kelford cams.
precision 6152 journal bearing- rebuilt from precision
Defi oil pressure gauge, sensor at back of block
So pretty much everything new except the rods.

i've only put 50 miles on the car so far and no highway driving, when the car is at temp cruising in 4th gear at 2,500 - 3,000 rpm, the oil pressure is 40-50psi. at idle its 4-6 psi. i'm using mobile 1 oil filter and mobile 1 10w30 oil. are the bearings with extra oil clearance hurting the oil pressure? should i change those out? should i adjust the HLA? open for suggestions and questions. thanks for reading.

 

That does seem pretty low. Im at 20 psi when idling running the same weight. Granted I dont have extra clearance bearings (which is probably a good idea to have them) I would expect it to drop a few psi but not to 4-6 at idle.

Also, ditch that mobil 1 crap. You should be running a better oil such a royal purple, ams oil, or brad penn. Something with a high zinc content. Try a 20W50 oil as well. With extra clearance bearings, you should be running a little thicker oil.

Also, for oil pressure, I run a mechanical gauge off of the factory sensor location.

 

thanks for the input i will look into the other oils,

this is the one thread i was looking at and figured my numbers were a little lower, even though someone says the mitsu manual says idle should be at least 4.3.

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/evo-engine-turbo-drivetrain/321542-normal-oil-pressure.html

 

Definitely use different oil. I'm not going to start an oil topic here but I'll say that Mobile one hasn't been the same oil it used to be. I recommend Motul or AMSOIL. Motul being my first choice. I would be careful though you don't want to damage the motor if the oil pressure is that low.

 

I just picked the car up from being inspected, at cold start Oil Psi is 80, after a 5 min drive idle is 20, and 3000 rpm is 60. but the more i drive the car the more the PSI drop. Like yesterday on the way to work which is a 25 min drive the idle was 4-5psi and the 2500-300 rpm was 40-50 psi.

 

Subscribed. I want to see what people have to say about this..

 

if ya have the extra clearance on the bearings and not standard I would switch to 20-50 oil brad penn or vr1 Valvoline.

 

There maybe oversized bearings for a machined crank--but not extra clearance bearing for more bearing to rod clearance-- there is a spec for rod/main bearing clearance and its the same for all bearings--too tight and not enough oil causing failure and too big you pound the bearing out and destroy the crank. The more you drive the warmer the oil, the thinner the oil, the better the flow, the lower the oil pressure. When its hot in tx and my oil is old it flickers the light on the dash usually around 4-5psi. Use a thicker oil say 10-40. thinking someone stated that its 10psi per 1000 rpm until you hit the pressure relief in the system--so all else seems ok. Your fine, try a thicker oil. Try a non synthetic oil as well if you feel the need to boost pressure as well. GL.,

 

Not to turn this into an oil brand thread but just to reiterate, English Racing told me to use the VR1 Valvoline 20-50. My current shop (Fathouse Fabs) uses only Brad Penn so that's what I'll be running when I get it back.

 

Unrelated, but why are you running syn in a new motor? your rings wont like that..


And he is running standard sizes journals, with the ACL bearings that give an extra thou of clearance. He does not have an undersized (cut) crank with standard clearance bearings for the cut crank. You def need to run thicker oil. 20w50 at least..

 

Go to a synthetic 20w-50 oil ASAP, a built motor especially with extra clearance bearings isn't going to last very long on 30 weight oil. Who built the engine that didn't give you this critical info?

 

He needs to run dino oil until he gets a few hundred miles on it to make sure the rings fully seat...

 

You need to put the oil pressure pick up on the oil filter housing, not the block... take one of the allen plugs out on the oil filter housing and put the pick up there and see if your oil pressure changes, it should read higher...

Also as other people have said, switch to 20-50 for summer and 10-40 for winters under 20*...

 

thanks everyone for the imput, i will switch to a 20w-50 asap. I had this hack job mechanic that actually did some damage taking the motor our, cut some wires off instead of unplugging them, so i took the car off of him after i got all my parts back from the machine shop he used (which i told him to use another one but he wouldn't listen). i put everything back together myself. had to rip everything back out because the machine shop he used didn't have the right equipment and the block and head were to rough for the head gasket to seal. i just put in the oil i always used. and when i bought the car in 2009 it was already built to a 2.3 stroker, i just rebuilt it after it died. the previous owner said he only used mobile 1 10w-30. once again thanks everyone and i will post back when i switch over tomorrow night. wont be driving the car until saturday anyway.

 

I am telling you the oil pressure pick up really needs to go int he oil filter housing as well...