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A properly functioning gauge (and driver...) with no hysteresis has worked just fine for the 5 or so decades that I've been piddling around with cars. BTW - 30 psig too high for a lot of cars -- many would shut off at warm idle with a 030 psig switch. Some of the aftermarket ecu's offer the possibility of a pressure check as part of the ecu function - uses the factory oil pressure switch and you can program the pressure parameters you want.
Advise I wasn't trying to challenge your 5 decades of experience, oil pressure switch benefits are longer bearing life and some High pressure oil pumps idle at 30 pounds and who would want the motor to keep running without oil pressure? Cheap insurance is a 12 dollar switch
Advise I wasn't trying to challenge your 5 decades of experience, oil pressure switch benefits are longer bearing life and some High pressure oil pumps idle at 30 pounds and who would want the motor to keep running without oil pressure? Cheap insurance is a 12 dollar switch
Didn't think you were Kevin - just pointing out there's more than one way to skin the cat, and that you need to know accurately how your engine's pressures vary under a wide variety of conditions in order to pick the proper pressure. In addition to my gauge I've got the good old fashion light which illuminates if pressure drops below 12 psig. Also, some setups, particularly with oil coolers, take a second to build pressure - so a simple switch may not ever let the engine get started in the first place unless you also have a time/delay circuit in conjunction with the switch. Chuckle - that's one way to assure long bearing life!
Fire extinguisher and an extra set of eyes is good counsel...
I actually have an oil pressure safety cutout that came with a holley blue kit that I used to run. My intentions were to keep it bypassed for now as I didn't want to add any possible obstacles to a successful first start.
Made some progress on the car over the last few days. Sort of. Mounted the wideband and hooked up the new wiring for the gauges and a few led indicators i tucked in. Spent about 2 days putting the interior back together. Actually hooked the battery up! First the car has been powered up since summer. A few gremlins presented themselves right away. Nothing serious. Hooray! Why not crank the motor over and see if oil pressure builds? Within a few short cranks I was able to get 25 psi off the starter. Woohoo! Well thats the good news. The bad news is a deep thud was reverberating on each series of cranks. Upon further inspection the oil pan is hiitting the k member
Its only on the passenger side. Its BARELY hitting.I'm going to try raising the engine on that side and sliding a few washers in between the motor and the mount. Last week it crossed my mind that the motor appeared to lay a bit lower on the passenger side anyhow. A straight edge across the fenders and a tape down to the top of the #1 and #2 header flange confirmed it.
This was completely avoidable. When I mocked up, the motor was suspended from the hoist. With the weight settled into the mounts, the pan hits. lesson learned. Hopefully The shims take care of it. If not, Ill have to drop the k member out and notch it or beat the hell out of it with a BFH. Ugh
Is it running yet? Looking forward to the car's first LS powered burnout!
Can't wait bud. A couple of buddies and I are planning a trip to the local drag strip in june. I really want to have this thing wrapped up with time to spare.
I'm probably going to preemptively notch my cross member. Lots of stories about the oil pan being close on swaps. I'm just gonna notch the thing and gusset it from the get go.
I know. I'm kicking myself for not taking a few extra minutes to see it through properly. Silver lining......the front suspension hasn't been put together yet. Pretty sure I can get it dropped, cut, welded, re installed in a long day.
Decided to take the day and address this. Everything whent exceedingly smooth and fast. I've had this car apart many times during nearly 20 years of ownership, it nearly falls apart. Well here is what I ended up with. A good finger width the whole way around the front.
It now seems obvious that the pan was more than " barely touching". Prior to this, the passenger rear corner of the trans pan was kissing the vertical part of its crossmember. Now there is daylight between the two.
Getting pretty close to first start up now. Ran into major issues building the y-pipe. My first attempt failed as it was going to hang to low. There is very little space on the passenger side in between the frame rail and trans pan. Ended up taking a BFH to the pipe and the grinder to the frame. With the second attempt the fit is decent. However there is no way I'm going to be able to weld it up to the headers or even get a regular exhaust clamp in there. Any suggestions?
I'm probably going to preemptively notch my cross member. Lots of stories about the oil pan being close on swaps. I'm just gonna notch the thing and gusset it from the get go.
I was able to finally attempt a start up. I hit the key and she turns over....Doesnt start.
After a few attempts the check engine light comes on. Po336 crank sensor. A quick ohm test of the three wires revealed no problems. Decided to pull the sensor. It was TIGHT coming out....because it was bent! The f $#$ING thing was bent!
I was almost sick to my stomach as it dawned on me that the thumping I had heard a few days prior was probably the reluctor banging into the sensor....not the oil pan hitting the k member and most likely will result in a tear down due to a bent reluctor wheel.
I still had the old sensor. Upon comparing the two side by side, the older one was shorter, by a considerable margin. Wtf??
Popped the old one in and it fired right up! Sounded good even! I had only a minimal amount of fluids installed, so the first run was a short one.
Topped everything up to a more appropriate level and hit the key...crank and no start! This time I get a po118...coolant temp sensor. Once again I decided to ohm out the wires. Upon doing so I found one plugged into the wrong ECM slot...75 instead of 74. After moving the wire it still doesnt start, throws the same code. A quick run to napa and I had new sensor. Install the new sensor and she fires right up! Woohoo!
The past week or so has been spent fixing a few small leaks and general tying up of loose ends. The car should be on its maiden voyage tomorrow. I have a dyno tune session scheduled for Thursday next week. Hopefully a few shakedown runs close to home will reveal anything that needs attention.
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lesson learned. Hopefully The shims take care of it. If not, Ill have to drop the k member out and notch it or beat the hell out of it with a BFH. Ugh 
