oil pressure

[Dave Gee]

I have just completed rebuilding a 1.8 Flavia engine for my Vignale: reground crank, new shells, rebored pistons, stripped the oil pump and had the surfaces ground etc. Having run the engine to tune it, I find that the oil pressure starts to drop when it becomes warm, yet the dip stick reading shows full. The pressure also dips when I corner.
Has anyone else come across this problem and even better, can anyone advise on how to resolve it? Dave

[Alan Cooper]

have you checked it with a proper gauge it could be a bad gauge or sender I've known a faulty gauge to swing on corners because the damping of the needle had failed, just a thought. I've found that pressure drops quite a bit on many flavias when hot a function of gauge rather than a real problem

[Michael Findlay]

Hi Dave

These things can be a bit unnerving but if your gauge is like mine it is a mechanical affair with a pipe up to the instrument so at least there are no electrics to worry about. I can send you a gauge from an old instrument pod if you want to connect it to a shorter pipe and see what is going on while the car is stationary.

All the best,

Michael Findlay