High Oil Pressure

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64bluefish

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I have a fresh 360 that I'm getting ready to install. I was priming the engine and decided to check and see what the oil pressure was doing. I put a cordless drill on the priming drive shaft and put a gauge on the oil pressure port. The gauge went straight to 85 psi. Is this normal for a newly rebuilt engine. The pump is a new Melling M-72.
Thanks
Mark
 
I got a fresh 360 with a HV pump and I run 30 to70 depending on rpm. Usually it is at 60 at 3000 and up. As far as I know it is fine as long as it is not less than 10psi per 1000rpm. What did you do toyour motor?
 
Do I need to worry about seals?
It's not in the car yet. Should I continue with it and see what it is once the engine is broken in? Would hate to pull it again.

It's a '76 block .030 over with:
KB pistons
509 Comp Cam
MP M1 Dual Plane Intake
Edelbrock RPM heads
340 HP Exhaust
770 Holley Street Avenger

Mark
 
What wt. oil are you using? 85 psi is not super high with cold oil, if it gets above 100 I start worrying about the oil filter. Chances are once the oil warms up it will be lower. 20w-50 oil will run higher pressure.
 
is the oil pump a HV? oil will not change the pressure as much as you think. Maybe 5 psi but you wont notice it or need to worry. Your motor is not an all out race motor but you got some bitchin parts. But really keep in eye on it for the first couple of oil changes as it will go down. My motor will have 60 psi right off the bat when it is cold then drop 20 when it is warm. Let me know how it goes. BTW are your pistons flattops and what cc heads are those?
 
with that kind of pressure use a good filter (no frams).
I worked for a Dodge dealer when the cummins first came out and
alot of them were losing bearings. The engineers had the techs send
the hole engine back because they couldn't figure out what was causing this.
It turned out to be customers using cheap oil filters. The paper elements would burst and clog the galleys. Mopar sent out a memo with a list
of approved filters to be used.
 
Something to think about..the pump is driven by the timing gear(cam gear..). The timing gear spins at 1/2 crank speed. so, if your drill has a 1500rpm speed(typical I think) the engine rpm would be 3K, and 85 psi cold at 3K is fine.
 
Don't worry about it. My 383 starts and runs at 75-80 psi (at idle) cold with 10W-40 then drops to 50 psi at idle when hot. I use a HV pump also.
 
Thanks Guys. That's what I was looking for.
Can you give me your opinions on quality oil filters?
Mark
 
If it's cheap, avoid it. Fram is the worst, currently. I like Wix..they supply Napa, Car Quest, and various "jobber" stores. If you're shopping for one, pick a cheap one up (physically lift it..) and then grab a higher end one. The cheapies have cardboard end seals, cheaper filter media (read as 'not as good'), thinner metal cans...There was a big very well doen private study somewhere..there was a link on a different site..But it disassembled and tested like 20 different filters, showed pics and everything. Done by an engineer, not a big company. I wish I could remeber where I saw it....lol
 
i am using a K&N oilfilter and its a big diference compared to the cheaper ones, ok i can only gues that but the filterbody is realy hard i even doubt that its possible to ram a screewdriver trhue it if i need to to get it loose if it has decided to stick;)
 
My Valiant has 65-75 psi cold;at Fast idle.
40ish at idle warm slow idle speed.

I am using Purolator, or Motorcraft filters
 
I use Baldwin filters because they basicaly are a fleet/commercial type filter, meaning a higher grade filter. It may be a little harder to find though.
The guys are right DO NOT use a Fram filter with that high of oil pressure. When I was a GS Buick guy the president of our car club spun a rod bearing in his GS at a drag race we were at. We pulled the filter and cut it open to see how much metal was in it and guess what we found? that's right NO filter media, it was an empty can. The filter media worked its way into the pan and cover the pick up screen with paper.
 
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