whoa.. the pressure

[SCOBRAC]

As many of you know I am in the process of fixing (restoring? ) a Contemporary I found abandoned in a crack house.. Ok, not exactly abandoned, but it was a crack house getting foreclosed on..

The car was built in 1988. It last ran in 1997 when the engine was scattered. The engine was replaced but the guy (you know who you are Paul Bennett) doing the work cut some corners.. No, not to save money, you would think from the invoices we were talking about European import parts for the marque that has a prancing horse on the hood (note I didn't say Ferrari)..

I have been cleaning up this car and one of the short cuts the guy took was that he installed an OEM style chrome oil pan.. Did I mention I hate chrome.. He also decided against a windage tray.. I decided that one way to clean up the look and cure some oil leaks was to lose the chrome pan and while I was down there put in a windage tray (one of the few things Ford Racing still has for an FE motor)

One thing that had been bothering me about this car was the oil pressure. I had been getting 45-48 cold with 35-37 hot.. Idle or 3500 rpm it really didn't change much. It seemed odd to me there wasn't more pressure for one, and more of a spread between hot and cold.. and at various rpm. I decided I would also change the oil pump also while I was in the crankcase.

Guess what.. Installing a Melling High Volume oil pump M-57HV I got 65 psi at idle, 75 psi at 2300 rpm.. (it was late when I finished and I didn't want turk to know what I was up to) I will let you know what I get at speed on a future installment..

Oh the oil pan? What can I say I opted for the finned aluminum retro look.. Sorry George.. Pictures are up in my gallery if you care to look..

Regards,