low oil pressure

[Hal Copple]

having any number of friends with stroked Windsors, it is my observation that the strokers just run a bit lower pressure than the standard stroke engines. Probably a number of reasons.

I would not pay much attention to "idle" pressures, i can drop to 20'ish at 700 rpm, and bump it to 900 rpm, and get 35 or more. A no-load engine at low rpm does not need much pressure.

I used to run for many thousands of miles, at my own standard condtion (hot, 2000 rpm steady), about 48 psi, went up a bit with increasing revs. Never had any problems at all, and i know of some guys with even a bit lower, whose engines have many thousands of miles with nary a problem.

But you might seek out a few extra pounds just to feel better. Try a really good filter, and try a slightly more viscous oil, say a good 15-50 or 20-50, if your pressure drops, you have too much resistance in your lines and filter, if it goes up, good. Be sure and be easy with your motor until you have some heat in the oil, by the way.

I put a full AN 12 system (including a Setrab oil cooler), with as few turns in the lines as possible, with an oil return straight into the block, plus some other things, like a huge NASCAR racing Wix filter, etc. Modified high volume Melling, cranked up all the way, enough to spin off my distributor gear, too. Was pretty expensive to do this, but I did gain about 5-10 psi, now my hot cruise is about 55ish, and it goes up nicely with rpm.

You have now various opinions, but short of dropping your oil sump, easy to do once you do it a few times, try the change in oil and filter first. Of course, the first thing to do is to call yourengine builder, for their specs and opinions.