460 oil pressure.

[John S Peterson]

Just when I think things are OK....it bites me!!! Anyway I have a 460 that runs great, does what I need it to do and when, but just recently I had a problem with oil pressure. I was running a stock sump pan, and noticed one evening that lifters were clattering. I looked at the gauge and saw low pressure (about 10psi). I made it home and added about 1 1/2 quarts which seemed to help the cruising pressure (about 50psi) but when I stopped pressure dropped to 0 then up to 20psi.

To make a long story short, I pulled the pan and to my surprise I found the pickup tube laying in the bottom of the pan. I decided it was time for a change, so I went with a milodon 10 quart pan made for a jet boat, went with a new pump, and measured the
pickup for proper location, and while I was at it replaced the main bearings (only 6000 on engine, but the pan was off) finished everything off added 11 quarts of 20-50 Kendell, and happily went on my way only to find out that the rapid deceleration problem still exists. I pulled the pan again, checked everything again, made sure all doors were opening, and in the right direction.....same problem.


When I stop even slightly agressive, the pressure drops to 0 momentarily then up to normal...Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

John

[djseed]

My Canton Marine Pan with 9 quarts of oil has the Canton pickup tube 3/8" from the pan bottom. The pickup was indexed and then bolted to one of the four bolt main studs. The cap was machined slightly to get the exact pan distance correct. There is a picture in my gallery of this. I use the Melling M84DHV oil pump. It is designed to give 60 lbs hot oil pressure. I also use the 3 quart AccuSump for safety.

[cobrashoch]

Agreed. It is def. a oil pickup problem. A 3 quart accusump is almost a required thing to do on cars like Cobras. Don't forget that there is other brands of oil accumulators too, Moroso comes to mind. A performance windage tray will help to in some cases also . And when you get tired of fooling with all the catalog pans out there (I think you will) a custom pan will for sure fix your situation. And they really don't cost any more either, when you think of the cost of your engine overall. Sometimes they will even give you a couple of extra horsepower........ Stefs, Avalon and Armondo's come to mind here and of course there are others.
cobrashock