The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Oil pumps- - - - -volume VS pressure

Interesting and timely info Jerry. I'm currently changing the oil pump on one of my long time vehicles. Problem is and soon to be was too much oil pressure, as in 100 psi cold (or more, pegs gauge) and 80 psi hot. I built the engine back in '89 thinking I wanted a long lasting street driving engine, set all the oil clearances up on the lower end of specs. Lunati balanced it and 37 years later it's still a very smooth running, happy to rev engine with all of 5,500 miles on it. Back in '89 the smart (not so much in reality) thing to do was change the pressure relief spring in the oil pump, so I did. Now I'm thinking I really don't want to wear out or shear the drive gear on the distributor shaft and wind up walking and then building another engine. This little project of changing the M72 pump out has turned into more than a day job with all the "while I'm at it details" but it's time well spent that could've been avoided by not trying to reinvent the wheel or in this case, oil pump. Too much oil pressure isn't necessarily a good thing.