Hey guys. Just did heads, cam and intake on my 2002 camaro. I went with ported and polished ls6 heads, ported 92 and the new torquer v4 cam. Got it all tuned, made 426, 392. Decent numbers im sure. However, it seems that I have low oil pressure. I installed a ported ls6 oil pump while doing the rest. I run 10-w30. Warm idle is around 20-25 and full throttle only to 40. What could be causing this? Any of you guys had this problem when doing heads and cam? I plan on hooking up a mechanical guage in a few weeks when I get back home. Any help appreciated.

 

I know some people have said that a cam can change the size of where the oil flows but im not sure

 

Pinched oring

 

Damn that worrys me. I only drove it for like 5 miles and let it warm up twice. Think it will be okay? No wierd noises that I heard.

 

yeah check the oring first

 

O ring or I've also heard the gasket on the cam retainer can cause headaches.

 

Alright thanks guys. Il check it asap and let you know how it goes. Interesting on the cam retainer. I will check that while im in there

 

Always a good idea to replace that cam retainer plate anytime you go in there. It's only like 20 bucks.

 

Before you go tearing it apart, check and see if you are getting a bunch of air bubbles on the dip stick. Also I would not be worried about those numbers...long as the pressure is constant, increases with rpm, its more then likely fine.

 

Those numbers are low with a ported LS6. It's the o-ring.

 

Mine does same thing. But it's a un ported Melling. I run it

 

Definitely check the o-ring, and the cam plate. Also, with the new oil pump did it have another spring included? I just put a new melling high volume in my car and I have around 45psi at idle and around 60 or so through the higher rpm's.

 

Does an oil pickup tube girdle help prevent a pinched O-ring?

 

It does. I added one to mine. When the motor is out of the car, it's very easy to install the pickup and not pinch the oil o-ring. But in the car, the girdle helps because you don't have to worry with pinching... you get equal pressure on both sides and can actually use the bolts to pull the tube up to the pump.

 

I've gotta order one of those, where did you get yours?