oil pressre worries

[Tony Powell]

I have a 64 Riv w/a supposed "recent motor rebuild/overhaul".That's all the clown that sold it to me could tell me. I put an Edelbroc 600cfm vac 2ndaries on it's stock intake,tuned it up,Pertronics ignition,adjusted the shifter to go into low,put the switch pitch on a toggle switch.Car runs amazingly.From a 15mph roll,burns rubber15-20ft.I just installed oil/temp mechanical gauges.Stays at 190f.I never get up to 40lbs of oil pressure.It used to have typical Buick left lifter rattle at start up and for about 30sec after until I changed oil and added ZDDP.Oil is 10-30 Haviland deisel.Is this lack of oil pressure acceptable in a 425?In my 455 it is not.Will or can I change a spring in the oil pump to increase oil pressure?

[wkillgs]

Nailheads don't need a lot of oil pressure to survive. It's a much better oiling system than the later engines.
Stock spec in the 1966 manual is 40 lbs at 2400 rpm. But most run less than that, maybe 35 max.
If it stays between 10 at idle, and 30-35 at cruise, that is fine. Personally, under 25 at cruise I might worry....but I bet it'll survive just fine at 20!
On the stock pumps, you can shim the relief spring for more pressure.
Carmen Faso does a few mods on the pumps he sells. Last one I got from him (10 yrs ago) was a Melling. TA performance also advertises 'blueprinted' pumps.
How much oil pressure do you have?

[Tony Powell]

AS i PREVIOUSLY STATED:36-37lbs max. 15lbs. or a little less @ idle. Frwy cruise 30lbs. 600cfm edelbrock, stock intake. Zeems to be pretty well tuned for the 425. Runs really strong. Have a 600cfm Holley I want to try. Oh, yeah, this is on top of 3/4" aluminium spacer that is spread bore. Made a big improvement. Suppose no matter what I do for cabeuration, I'll probably never see any much better than the 8.5-9.5mpg I'm getting, now?

[Bob]

I have found that most carburation/mileage problems are solved when looking at the distributor. Check that both mechanical and vacuum advances are in good working order.

[bob k. mando]

you might try a 15w-40 diesel rated oil like Rotella.

what kind of oil filter are you using? Fram's are a no-no.

[Tony Powell]

A sincere Thanks to the replies. I switched the points to Petronics in the cap, as soon as I got the car home. Set the timing @ about 4 degrees btdc with vacuum pluged. At the same time I replaced the vacuum advance modulator. The old did nothing. The new pulls in a lot of timing,correctly. No pinging. No hesatation. No bog. Doesn't skip a beat. Plugs are AC correct "cept I gapped "em @ .045 then changed them down to .040. No noticable diff. I know stock calls for .035. I figure the petronics is good for a little extra spark even when hooked up to the ACCEL coil with the pink resistance wire of about 8.2dcv.

[Airy Cat]

Why are Fram oil filters a no no?

[WildKitty]

I would not be happy with 10 mpg - my 445 has the stock Carter (600cfm) carb; my low mpg is 14 - got 16-17 on long haul across country (on a 300 mile straight stretch).. parade mpg is about 12mpg.

Wildkitty