Oil pressure question

[BananaDan]

Now that I have a restored gauge cluster, my oil pressure gauge works (it was broken prior to restoration/rebuild).  What should my pressure be at for normal operation, and what should I look out for to show signs of trouble?  If it matters, I have the Melling M-63HP oil pump on my 440 and the Mopar Performance oil pan that holds one quart of oil more than stock.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MEL-M63HP/

Dan

[elacruze]

The rule of thumb has always been 10psi per 1000 RPMs. My experience is that it's a good formula, however I like at least 20psi at idle and you have to know your engine for high RPMs-pressure demand on a 440 goes up exponentially above 6000 RPM due to the poor oil passages, which is why serious racers use external oiling.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

While your factory gauge is "restored" they are notoriously slow & could be innaccurate.
I run a hidden external gauge along with my dash one.  usually 60-75psi cold 35-45 hot @ idle on external gauge

[BananaDan]

While your factory gauge is "restored" they are notoriously slow & could be innaccurate.
I run a hidden external gauge along with my dash one.  usually 60-75psi cold 35-45 hot @ idle on external gauge

Chris, do you have the external gauge hooked up to the stock sending unit then, and the stock gauge is not hooked up?  If Instrument Specialties say they calibrate and test everything, is it safe to assume that the gauge would work well then?  Or is that more of a design issue with the old gauges that can't be overcome by rebuild and calibration?

Dan

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Shhh...dont tell anyone... 

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,29056.0.html

[A383Wing]

While your factory gauge is "restored" they are notoriously slow & could be innaccurate.
I run a hidden external gauge along with my dash one.  usually 60-75psi cold 35-45 hot @ idle on external gauge

same here...OE gauges were slow and often inaccurate

[BananaDan]

I ran her tonight and cold, at idle the pressure gauge read about 20-25 psi.  I didn't watch her closely during the quick ride around town I took, but I saw it go up to about 30-35 psi.  It's a 35mph road so I wasn't going very fast.  It didn't seem that the pressure at idle went down after she warmed up though.

Dan