Idle oil pressure

[Don Dulmage <big-d@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Idle oil pressure especailly with Full grooved mains is meaningless. If you have 60 plus at cruising speed don't worry about it. Some gauges with full sweep (270 degrees) don't read well at the low end of the scale. If you had bad bearings you would not be able to push 60+ lbs at any speed. Part of the problem is with Oil temp. I am sure you only see this when the oil is very well heated and even after a short rest it comes back to 40 at idle.  
I am no fan by the way of Multigrade oils. They have only one purpose and that is so they can be used summer and winter which is pointless in a hot street car.
I always use straight grades in my perfomance engines. They cost exactly the same and give a bit more protection. 
What do the numbers mean?
10 W 40 means it pours like ten , W means winter tested and it is supposed to protect like 40. To me (and i realize i may be slightly oppinionated) ya might as well just put in 20 cause that is about how it acts. 
It used to be XD3 Exxon /Esso 40 was very good temp wise but that is no longer the case. If it bothers you go to a straight grade premium racing oil (40 or 50) (Redline or the Purple stuff) and install a 160  thermostat . That will help a lot. 
The use of 3/4 grooved main bearings which Clevite makes will solve the problem some but they are very expensive. 
Half grooves as in stock bearings are not suitable in our engines for hard use. They only oil the rod bearing 1/2 revoultion and with our large bearings that is often not enough. (even the factory uses full grooved in heavy duty aplications) 3/4 grooves are a resonable alternative but full grooves are the best of you intend to abuse it. (I like to abuse mine at least once everyday)
The hemi style bearings which have a very wide full groove and extra clearance are the worst for this very hot idle pressure but they are the best at high RPM. 
Hope this helps. 
It is a combo of Oil temp (influenced to a certain extent by Engine temp) Full grooved mains( which bleed rod oil 100% of the time as opposed to 50 % of the time for passenger car (read "Granny ") bearings) and the added clearance a strong perfomance engine requires to stay out of trouble. 
BTW go for a ride in a Strip /street type 454 car from the bowtie boys. Their oil pressure, or lack there of, will almost give you heart failure.
Don

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