ZBLKHELLRZR

I'll make this brief as possible. 2-3K miles on engine fresh rebuild. Perfect oil pressure on cold startup 60psi after warm up 45psi constant. Raced a rival down a stretch of road and my rfootrest pedal came loose in the process of snatching 3rd gear. I loose focus dealing w/ the foot pedal and try letting off the clutch w/ foot pedal in the way. RPM's climb to 7K for a hot second say no more than 2 secs. Once I get myself together and engage the clutch and proceed car starts to sputter eratically and the oil pressure drops a good 20psi and then fluctuates until I come to a complete stop 100yrds down the road.

I let the car sit for 10 mns to cool down and when I go to crank it sputters. Figured I flooded the engine so restart and she fires right up no problems. Since that day though when I go for a cold startup 45 psi and after it's at operating temp 35psi. When it's under load the psi rises as normal BUT what happens now over time say a hrs drive the psi drops gradually. Example 1 hr cruise @ 70 mph psi is 45 but at the end of the ride I'm down to 20psi and when making a right turn the needle drops to 0 momentarily. 7 qt oil pan I run 6.5 and burn maybe a qt every 1K but I keep the level at 6.5 all the time and run 10W 30 oil.

So what could it be bearings, oil pickup tube, pump itself, or the sending unit possibly? Thanks for any input.

P.S. I'll be attaching a mechanical pressure guage in April for testing purposes.

94GreenZ28

If your pressure drops while turning that sounds like a pickup problem. Try hitting the bottom of the pan to see if you can hear the pickup rattling on the bottom of the pan. I would also think about pulling the pan. It's not too hard. I did it twice in one week when I had a high rpm oil pressure issues. Only takes about 4 hrs to pull.

I'm sure your mains aren't looking too good. I would pull one of the caps and check the clearences on the bearings. You might wanna also inspent the oil pump too.

ZBLKHELLRZR

Thanks. I drained the oil and stuck a magnet in there trying to hit something but I didn't hit or hear anything. Aftermarket drain plug hole is so small it's hard to see anything w/ a light shinning in the hole. I hope it's not the bearings I just rebuilt that sucker. I will be pulling the pan for good measure and maybe check how far off the pickup is setting from the bottom of the pan.

Update: I forgot to add. Turning left or right and the pressure is stable. I changed the oil and that's it. Pressure is still as described though but at least it's not dropping. So could that be the sender or something else?

Thanks again,

94GreenZ28

More than likely its not the sender. But I would hook up an external just for good measure.

ZBLKHELLRZR

I'll just drop the pan and see what is up. Thanks Green.