I suspect the oil pressure I am seeing is correct. I am attempting figure out what change I made increased the oil pressure. Keep in mind we just got this on the road recently so we are blindly trusting the accuracy of the gauges.
When I got the car on the road at 30 MPH when cold the pressure was at 15 and warm a few pounds below that. Warm being just under 180 on the temp gauge.
Now cold the pressure is near where I would expect 20 to be on the gauge warm it is just above 15 where it used to be cold.
The following changes where all made at the same time: - Oil change from 30wt to 10w30 - Changed oil filter with same model / brand NAPA 1010 - New coil, This made a huge difference in the performance of the engine and its ability to start. The car was stalling at idle when hot. Now it runs stronger also. Old coil was weeping fluid out of a crack in its porcelain. - Installed a gas tank, I know this one is not it but it was done on the same weekend.
I suspect the coil but was wondering if the oil could make the difference. Both are 30 when warm so I would think they should be similar but not sure.
I have found that having an old car is a constant project that is never done. I think that is a good thing. Keeps me learning new things. Having two from different eras is just a form of higher education.
Just a big guess. The lighter 10 weight oil flows better on start-up. The “30 weight” does not become effective until things are pretty hot. So the oil is acting like less than 30 weight most of the time.
I cannot remember if you have had the oil pan off of this car yet. If not I would not be surprised if the intake screen was somewhat plugged.
Hopefully Gene will jump in with some knowledge about what the pressures should read. I cannot remember if there was a change in the bypass valve settings compared to my ‘37. On my ‘37 the gauge will peg when it is a cold start, especially anything below 60 degrees. My hot pressures are 13 at road speed and 3 at idle. I use 5W-30.
I am debating if changing the oil filter element would have made a difference. That is a bypass set-up so it only gets about 10% of the flow. I expect it is fed by a tee off the oil pressure line. .
I cannot remember if you have had the oil pan off of this car yet. If not I would not be surprised if the intake screen was somewhat plugged.
I am debating if changing the oil filter element would have made a difference. That is a bypass set-up so it only gets about 10% of the flow. I expect it is fed by a tee off the oil pressure line. .
I have not dropped the pan to date.
When getting a new filter I found out the one I have is an unusual type. Made by Inner-Line Filter, INC NY. The aluminum housing mounts directly to the engine. Unite the bee hive or Fram ones there are no lines to it. I suspect it does work the same though. I attached an add for it that I found online.
I have found that having an old car is a constant project that is never done. I think that is a good thing. Keeps me learning new things. Having two from different eras is just a form of higher education.
You say there are no lines to the oil filter, and it mounts directly to the engine. Where exactly is it mounted to? Is it bolted over top of the oil distributor valve down on the side of the block? If so, it could well be the filter that's doing funny things to your oil pressure.
The filter is mounted to the block vertically inline with the carburetor, below the intake and exhaust manifolds. The arm on it is at a 45 degree angle and places the filter housing behind the generator and in front of the down pipe for the exhausts.
Attached is a picture of the car with the fenders off. It is the silver cylinder on the driver's side of the motor.
I wonder if this filters more or less than the others would have. Replacing an old filter with the same one that is new I would have thought to recue not increase oil pressure.
I have found that having an old car is a constant project that is never done. I think that is a good thing. Keeps me learning new things. Having two from different eras is just a form of higher education.
The Inline filter replaces the little cover held on by three bolts. They were very popular in 1950 and 1951 and we installed tons of them on new cars, Will not change the oil prssure reading in hot or cold. When they chahged the side motor mounys is 1952 it made the filter installation difficult and the Inline filter died away.
With 10W-30 oil a 1949-1953 engne shold have about 5 to 7 pounds of oil pressure at idle and 15 pounds at 50 MPH with hot oil. It takes about 15 minutes of driving in the Summer to get the oil hot and 20 miles to get up to full operating temperature. With cold oil the pressure wil be considerably higher.
The only engine part getting that full oil pressure reading is the main bearings. All other points get a much lower pressure.
I believe if you post the engine numbers you will find it is a much newer engne.
The serial number on the engine is AA890798. I believe that is a 1941 216. This said all of the values I gave where based on the gauge on the dash. We just got this car on the road this summer and the gauges may not be correct. The values I put in the post may not be right. What I can verify is the difference between the two.
I have found that having an old car is a constant project that is never done. I think that is a good thing. Keeps me learning new things. Having two from different eras is just a form of higher education.
