440 oil pressure question

[kiwitrev]

i bought my superbird about 4 years ago  in the early days i would have a problem of the car running hot and fuel vapor lock shutting down the engine. both issues resolved in less than 150 miles of use. replaced alloy radiator with factory design and adjusted fuel line routing. The prior owner had the engine rebuilt with some performance upgrades and i remember the gauge showing good oil pressure then above 40lbs. now the gauge typically shows less than 40 and at idle down to 20. im having a hard time believing this as in the four years i would have less than 300 miles added to the car and about two hours of running in the shed, i starting for ten minutes about six week intervals. so the question should i be worried of fast internal engine wear less than 1000 miles or are the guages not typically accurate reading low.

[birdsandbees]

Electric gauge or mechanical? Start by putting a know good mechanical test gauge on the car. Use the spare gallery plug beside the sender you are currently using.

[justcruisin]

Yep, insure your gauge is accurate first by fitting up a known mechanical gauge. If you are worried about an internal problem, remove the oil filter and split it open for inspection. 20 psi at idle isn't a problem but if there is a change then there must be a reason for that change. The drop is not necessarily due to bearing wear.