High oil pressure?

[Pvt Parts]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

Wish I could think of the guy's name that got me thinking correctly about sbc's oil pumps. He was a Modified & Comp engine builder from New Mexico in the '70s. Wish I could think of his name now. (I’m old) Had the pick up tube fall out of the oil pump in my ’56 Chevy at Albuquerque NM. Too much blowing sand & dirt to pull the pan there! I just loaded up. He was asking what happened, and told me I should be pulling the spring and braze the pick up in place, then ask how much oil pressure I had? I proudly announced “65 psi!” He said, “And a high volume pump?” I said “Yes!” He then screwed my head on straight about pumps and pressure. I have an old rear main cap, tapped for a fitting, flexible hose and oil pressure gauge. I bolt the pump to it, drop in the parts washer and spin it up with a ½” drill. What I see there, I see in the car. Been doing it this way since that day. Before synthetic oil too. <G>

Mike Keown got me up to speed on the pumps. I was getting the good synthetic from Alaska and overseas before it was available here. I worked at one of the largest Chevrolet Dealers in Indy when I got out of school. The 302 cid Z28's did have a problem with pumping the pan dry. A lot of it could have been abuse.... not enough oil to start with and too many rpm's. They'd usually spin 1 and 2 or fly apart. I remember getting a repair order to check a Z28 for a blown engine. You never know what the customer told the service writer. It could be anything. I got in the car and was going to drive it into the bay when I noticed the beam of a connecting rod sitting on top of the console. You see it all when you work in a large dealership.