quick oil pressure ? for flathead guys

[V8]

what's a normal oil pressure for a stock 8 ba that has a few miles on it, and how low is 5 or so pounds at idle and 30 pounds max. Also where can you get a good oil pump for these? thanks alot

[DrDano]

5 sounds a little low to me, but my motor is brand new. Mine runs about 20 psi at idle and 60 running.

I got my pump from Rod N Custom supply, its a high flow unit.

[V8]

I'll try and find their website, got the url? thanks

[Crestliner]

There is a lot of old flatties running pressure that low.

[Grinder]

Mine runs 20 at idle and 55 to 60 at speed and its an old motor.Just like the owner. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[thirtytwo]

someone told me once they saw in a ford manual it says pressure should be 35psi at 50mph ...mine runs 30 idle and about 50 at speed but i run 50wt and it runs on the cool side ...have a new hv pump in classifides for sale...

[Mike]

On a crisp 110 degree Phoenix day with 20w50 oil, My flathead's oil pressure runs between 30 and 35 psi at speed and between 5 and 10 psi at idle. It's been like that for 10 years and she's still running strong. I refer to the general rule that you need 1 psi of oil pressure for every 100 rpms. Since this is in an old '48 Fordor (not a race car or something), I figure should be ok.

[Bruce Lancaster]

Parenthetical thought here: That pressure is entirely survivable and not worth tearing down for if engine is running well, but it isn't optimum...
the place to look usually at rebuild time is cam bearings and cam journals. If they are loose, they can dump enough oil to lose most of the pressure at low speeds.
At rebuild time, the '50-53 type pump, now readily available new, fits all years. Early motors use the truck pickup, also available new now. Pumps often need end-play blueprinting.