Safe minimum Idle

[bandt]

 Hello,

I have a 340 I just stroked to a 416. I suspect I may have had oiling problems in the top end of my engine. We found some badly worn areas on some fairly new, very low mileage parts. The shafts on my PRW rockers were badly scored and worn and the guides were completely shot in my RHS heads.

Now that it's back together I was wondering if my idle was set to low, not getting enough oil to the top end. It's a street car so it spends a lot of time idling and low rpm. What is a safe operating idle rpm?  The stock engine on the emissions sticker says 800 I think. Is that ok or to low?

Brian

[burdar]

What oil pressure do you have at 800rpm?

[bandt]

I have a standard dash. Before the rebuild I didn't have an oil pressure gauge. I am installing one before it hits the road this time. So.....I don't know what my oil pressure was at idle. What is typical for a small block?

[Oldschool]

A good rule of thumb for most engines is to have at least 10 psi oil pressure for every 1000 rpm the engine is turning.

[Chryco Psycho]

I wonder if the cam brg was turned a little causing a little restricting to the heads ,
 I would want a minimum 20 PSI at idle 600 or better RPM should be fine .
 there should be a lot of oil under the valve covers

[bandt]

The top end visually always looked well oiled under the valve covers. I'm really not sure what happened I'm only assuming because of the amount of wear on the guides and shafts.

I wonder if the cam brg was turned a little causing a little restricting to the heads ,
 I would want a minimum 20 PSI at idle 600 or better RPM should be fine .
 there should be a lot of oil under the valve covers

Possibly, I have no other reference for the quantity of oil under the covers other than my own.

I have heard mechanical gauges are more accurate, but have the electronic gauges improved over the years? I am planning on running a VDO electronic gauge.

Brian

[cudabob496]

low idle can also make your water pump inefficient, and your
alternator inefficient. I run mine at 1100 rpm.