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Old 04-27-2012, 07:15 PM   #41
Kahuna
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Default Re: Flathead Engine Oil Pressure ?

Here's how I did the oil pressure deal. I made an adjustable item to control the pressure. I pressurized the block to 100# with oil and adjusted the valve to relieve at 60#
Works pretty good
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Old 04-27-2012, 07:51 PM   #42
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Default Re: Flathead Engine Oil Pressure ?

Kahuna, that set up looks interesting, making any more? Might post a how to on that.
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Old 04-27-2012, 07:51 PM   #43
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Default Re: Flathead Engine Oil Pressure ?

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Originally Posted by Mike in Louisiana View Post
When starting my 1936 1.5 ton truck with the 59A B engine being cool I have 60 PSI engine oil pressure on my new after market oil pressure gage and a little over 50 at low idle on the factory gauge for about 5 minutes then as the oil warms up it starts slowly coming down and after about 15 minutes of driving the truck down the highway I have 18 PSI at HI idle and 2 PSI at low idle. I left it over night and it does same thing the next day. The engine runs real smooth and doesn't smoke at all. I'm using 30wt non detergent oil.

The truck has not been started since 1972. I changed oil but did not remove oil pan to clean.

What is the normal Hi idle and Low idle oil pressure for this engine?

What may be the reason of the oil pressure coming down after warm up?

Thanks

Mike

Mike that is one nice old truck. Wish I had it.
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Old 04-27-2012, 10:27 PM   #44
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Default Re: Flathead Engine Oil Pressure ?

Kahuna, Nice elegant solution. That picture is the tech detail. An adjustable regulator. You can set that up for any configuration pump and bearing clearances. Was your plan to be able to make an adjustment without removing the manifold?
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Old 04-28-2012, 10:17 AM   #45
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Default Re: Flathead Engine Oil Pressure ?

All you have to do is drill the hex cap on the bypass valve and tap a fine theard for a long half dog set screw with a lock nut. You can remove the plugs put a little oil in the cylinders with a rag over them so you don't blow oil all over the place. Spin the engine with 12 volts. With a gauge on the send boss you can adjust the oil pressure to what you want. Spinning with 12 volts will give the same oil pressure as driveing down the road. I have done this with engines in the car or sitting on the floor. The only problem is if the engine has a later oil pump with a built in adjustable bypass. If this opens before the valve valley one then the pump bypass will determine the pressure. G.M.
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Old 04-28-2012, 06:56 PM   #46
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Default Re: Flathead Engine Oil Pressure ?

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41FOrd1
Yes, I originally wanted to be able to adjust the pressure without removing the manifold, but the manifold I ended up using wouldn't allow for that. As a matter of fact, I don't think any manifold would work.
This works fine.
Jim
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Old 04-29-2012, 09:48 AM   #47
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Default Re: Flathead Engine Oil Pressure ?

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Originally Posted by 41ford1 View Post
A previous owner installed a pressure switch in place of the sender. Wired that in series with a resistor to put the gauge mid scale (about 30#) when there was enough pressure to close the switch. The switch closed at 8PSI. So eventually after warm up the idle pressure dropped to something less than 8PSI. Therefore 0PSI indicated.
Sounds like the predecessor to the "idiot light" except this was an "idiot gauge." I guess better than nothing.
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Old 04-29-2012, 10:06 AM   #48
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Default Re: Flathead Engine Oil Pressure ?

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Originally Posted by G.M. View Post
The only problem is if the engine has a later oil pump with a built in adjustable bypass. If this opens before the valve valley one then the pump bypass will determine the pressure. G.M.
The pump bypass will open at 50. But when warm, if the pressure is below 50, will the valve valley regulator keep the pressure from dropping too low?

I'm going to pull my manifold today, and do the modification.
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Old 04-29-2012, 05:03 PM   #49
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Default Re: Flathead Engine Oil Pressure ?

No.
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Old 04-29-2012, 09:23 PM   #50
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Default Re: Flathead Engine Oil Pressure ?

46 with a bypass on the pump you want to shim the valley valve spring on top with a 1/8" pipe spacer 3/16" long. This will compress the spring hard enough the oil pressure won't open the valley valve. As stated before the flat spot or spots on the valley valve itself allows enough oil for the timeing gears and waterpumps. If the pump bypass valve opens at 50 to 55 the pressure will run at 40 or a little better with 20/50 oil. It will idle at 10 to 15 hot if the engine is in reasonable condition. In my opinion it is critical to test the oil pump before installing whether it's an old pump or a brand new one. I have tested pumps from Fords and V/12 Lincolns that had good oil pressure for a while then it slowly drops. The Lincolns have hydrolic lifters and and when the pressure gets to 15 lbs they start playing a song, the lower the pressure the noisier and at 5 or 6 lbs they really get bad. That's when we made the pump tester. We ran it on the tester with a 1/2" electric on where the drive gear go's. We restrict the out put and the more restriction the higher the pump pressure. This pump held 50 lbs for maybe 5 minutes then the bypass started slowly dump pressure. The pressure slowly came down as the bypass dumped more oil. We shut the drill down and when we started it back up the pump was back up to 50 lbs and after a few minutes started dropping again. We shimmed the spring in the pump bypass adjusting it to 55 lbs and it held for a half hour or more on the tester. The pump was installed in the Lincoln which was used on tours and never had an oil pressure problem again. G.M.
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Old 04-30-2012, 05:01 AM   #51
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Default Re: Flathead Engine Oil Pressure ?

GM, I'll try that. A .070 shim did nothing in my case so I suspect I may need to dive into the engine but I'll try this first. The car runs great but hot oil pressure is low, about 20-25 psi at 40 mph and low single digits at idle on my mechanical gauge. Same values with straight 40 or straight 50 weight Valvoline. I suspect others are in the same boat so this thread will make good "search" material.

I did put a new pump in (50-lb pump). Why do they need a bypass at all? Are there problems with "too high" oil pressure? I'd be willing to put an 80 psi pump in if it would help. I may also look into those cam bearings...
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Old 04-30-2012, 08:24 AM   #52
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Default Re: Flathead Engine Oil Pressure ?

46 the 50 lb pump you have will put out a lot more than 50 lbs. The output pressure is controled by the bypass valve in the pump, the valley valve, an oil leak, bad bearings or cam bushings. The valve not used to set the pressure must be set wiith a higher spring pressure so it don't efffect the the valve being adjusted. Any place oil can gush through freely will reduce oil pressure. When we rebuilt Skips 37 engine he grabed an old early style long pump and stuck it in oil and turned it by hand, a full flow of oil shot out in two turns of the pump drive gear. Skip said that looks like a good one. I said let's test it anyway. We ran it on the tester and as soon as we restricted the output the pressure dropped to zero. We tested another old long pump and it went up to 90 lbs with a tighter restriction. The 90 lbs in this engines pump is controled by the valley valve which we adjusted to 45 lbs with the plugs out, a mechical pressure gauge spinning the engine with 12 volts with a little oil in the cylinders. It runs with the same pressure we saw when spinning on 12 volts. G.M.
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Last edited by G.M.; 04-30-2012 at 02:24 PM.
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Old 04-30-2012, 03:14 PM   #53
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Default Re: Flathead Engine Oil Pressure ?

The last one I did we added a 3/8 spacer in the valley and it lifted the oil pressure by about 15 Lb. when the oil is cold the valve in the valley opens ( despite the small flats on there ) and give a extra Strong spray over the top of the cam gear teeth and down onto a hole just above the dizzy drive dog The hole was placed there to lube the bush on the dizzy about 1935 as early engines don't have it .
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Old 04-30-2012, 07:37 PM   #54
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Default Re: Flathead Engine Oil Pressure ?

Taking the parts to the shop tomorrow to make a spacer...
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Old 09-29-2022, 05:15 AM   #55
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Default Re: Flathead Engine Oil Pressure ?

I just rebuilt my 59AB motor and used a high volume oil pump out of my previous 8BA that had only been run about 3000 miles, it is only carrying 5 psi at best at a idle cold and will go up to 25 psi if you rev it a little but falls off rapidly. I had the block decked no more than was necessary to eliminate a leak issue that I had and in the process , he took the valley relief valve out to do the machine work. The pump is of the the relief type mentioned above in other post, or at least has a relief spring on it. I have a new scat crank shaft and bearings, but did not change the cam bearings this time, so I don't believe the issue is there. I am taking the intake back off this afternoon and will inspect the relief valve to make sure he got it back in correctly, Can I shim the valley relief valve as mentioned above safely with a 3/16 shim ?

Last edited by Ron_r1959; 09-29-2022 at 06:20 AM.
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Old 09-29-2022, 09:22 AM   #56
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Default Re: Flathead Engine Oil Pressure ?

The 59AB in my '46 Coupe seems to have higher oil pressure than normal I guess. When I bought it five years ago, I started with 15-40 Rotella, then switched to 10-30, as I thought the pressure was too high, base on comments on this site. The oil pressure stayed the same at operating temp. The pressures are as shown on the attached pics. I have 180 stats, and the engine runs just like Henry built it.
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File Type: jpg Mech Gauges at Idle.jpg (42.8 KB, 41 views)
File Type: jpg Mech Gauges at Speed.jpg (54.3 KB, 41 views)
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Old 09-29-2022, 09:40 AM   #57
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Default Re: Flathead Engine Oil Pressure ?

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Originally Posted by 51woodie View Post
The 59AB in my '46 Coupe seems to have higher oil pressure than normal I guess. When I bought it five years ago, I started with 15-40 Rotella, then switched to 10-30, as I thought the pressure was too high, base on comments on this site. The oil pressure stayed the same at operating temp. The pressures are as shown on the attached pics. I have 180 stats, and the engine runs just like Henry built it.
I don't know about 59A's, but that looks normal for an 8BA. Do you perchance have the later pump? If so, that looks right. My 1953 Motor Manual gives factory oil pressure of 57 psi at speed. The '51 Merc in my '51 coupe idles hot at slightly over 20 psi and runs down the road at close to 60.
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Old 09-30-2022, 08:07 PM   #58
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Default Re: Flathead Engine Oil Pressure ?

The 8BA pump is possible, as the engine was rebuilt at one time. The rebuild also included adjustable lifters.
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