1966 Mustang, C4 automatic transmission
1979 engine block
1980 head, milled .075" and adapted for a 2 barrel carb
FelPro head gasket
So I recently grabbed a spare head from the junkyard, milled it .075" and adapted it for a 2 barrel Webber 32/26. New pushrods that are .050" shorter and new hydraulic valve lifters. Cleaned all the old carbon off the top of the pistons while the head was off. Scotchbrite and solvent cleaned everything very well.
I put the new head on and got it to fire up after a little (ok a lot) of tinkering to get the timing right since I was doing it on my own without a helper. It idles much smoother and runs very well overall. I'm very happy... BUT...
The only problem is that the oil pressure is quite a bit lower than before the work.
I put fresh oil and a new filter in before even firing it up because I knew I spilled some coolant in the system. Plus, it had been quite a while since the last change (6 months, 1,500 miles?) and I've been running without an air filter (yeah I know).
I have a mechanical oil pressure gauge under my dash tee'd into the electric oil pressure gauge. I don't know how accurate it is, but it's better than the electric one in the dash... at least it gives me something close.
Before all the work, the engine had a good 35-40psi of oil pressure crusing down the road and 20psi at idle at a stop light.
Post head swap, I can still get 35-40 psi crusing around the neighborhood. At idle in neutral, it's close to 20psi... when I drop it in drive as if at a stop light, it dips to around 10psi... maybe even less. Any increase in engine speed and I can see it move up accordingly. All these are with the engine warmed up. Before it warms up, it shows 40psi at idle but then drops to 20psi when warm.
After only idling for maybe an hour to get the timing set up I noticed the issue. I took a 12 ounce oil sample into an old jar and it was dark black. Looked like it had been in there for a couple months, not a couple hours. Smelled a little funny too... strong odor. Smells like used oil, but a little stronger than normal... doesn't smell sweet or like coolant... and, there's no smoke out the tailpipe, white or otherwise.
The coolant in the radiator looks pristine green. My oil sample didn't separate out after a day or two of sitting. So, I don't THINK I have a coolant leak... I don't THINK it's my fuel pump leaking into the engine (although it's old and I've got a new one on order anyway, just to be sure)...
I know I've got oil flow going to the rocker arms because I primed the system with a drill before putting in the distributor. I could see it flowing to all the pushrods. I also pulled the valve cover after running and could see oil in the head.
The head/rocker arms were hot tanked and perfectly clean... now that there's no old goo in the system, would that mean things can pump the same volume with less restriction? Is my idle just set to low?
Why was it so dirty, even after fresh oil and running for only a few hours? From running pre-swap without an air cleaner? From trying to get the timing set up?
I've got another new filter and 5 quarts of oil... thinking I should just change it again and see what happens... but not if I'm going to trash the engine...
I'm confused/concerned... should I be?
Sorry for the essay, but more details are usually better, right?
1979 engine block
1980 head, milled .075" and adapted for a 2 barrel carb
FelPro head gasket
So I recently grabbed a spare head from the junkyard, milled it .075" and adapted it for a 2 barrel Webber 32/26. New pushrods that are .050" shorter and new hydraulic valve lifters. Cleaned all the old carbon off the top of the pistons while the head was off. Scotchbrite and solvent cleaned everything very well.
I put the new head on and got it to fire up after a little (ok a lot) of tinkering to get the timing right since I was doing it on my own without a helper. It idles much smoother and runs very well overall. I'm very happy... BUT...
The only problem is that the oil pressure is quite a bit lower than before the work.
I put fresh oil and a new filter in before even firing it up because I knew I spilled some coolant in the system. Plus, it had been quite a while since the last change (6 months, 1,500 miles?) and I've been running without an air filter (yeah I know).
I have a mechanical oil pressure gauge under my dash tee'd into the electric oil pressure gauge. I don't know how accurate it is, but it's better than the electric one in the dash... at least it gives me something close.
Before all the work, the engine had a good 35-40psi of oil pressure crusing down the road and 20psi at idle at a stop light.
Post head swap, I can still get 35-40 psi crusing around the neighborhood. At idle in neutral, it's close to 20psi... when I drop it in drive as if at a stop light, it dips to around 10psi... maybe even less. Any increase in engine speed and I can see it move up accordingly. All these are with the engine warmed up. Before it warms up, it shows 40psi at idle but then drops to 20psi when warm.
After only idling for maybe an hour to get the timing set up I noticed the issue. I took a 12 ounce oil sample into an old jar and it was dark black. Looked like it had been in there for a couple months, not a couple hours. Smelled a little funny too... strong odor. Smells like used oil, but a little stronger than normal... doesn't smell sweet or like coolant... and, there's no smoke out the tailpipe, white or otherwise.
The coolant in the radiator looks pristine green. My oil sample didn't separate out after a day or two of sitting. So, I don't THINK I have a coolant leak... I don't THINK it's my fuel pump leaking into the engine (although it's old and I've got a new one on order anyway, just to be sure)...
I know I've got oil flow going to the rocker arms because I primed the system with a drill before putting in the distributor. I could see it flowing to all the pushrods. I also pulled the valve cover after running and could see oil in the head.
The head/rocker arms were hot tanked and perfectly clean... now that there's no old goo in the system, would that mean things can pump the same volume with less restriction? Is my idle just set to low?
Why was it so dirty, even after fresh oil and running for only a few hours? From running pre-swap without an air cleaner? From trying to get the timing set up?
I've got another new filter and 5 quarts of oil... thinking I should just change it again and see what happens... but not if I'm going to trash the engine...
I'm confused/concerned... should I be?
Sorry for the essay, but more details are usually better, right?
