[TR] Oil pressure in my TR6

[Bob Labuz]

Joe,

Make sure you check the thrust washer clearance. It is a known week link 
for the 6 engine.

If it is not in spec, replace with upgraded washers.

What oil/weight are you using? Make sure you use a ZDDP oil such as Brad 
Penn.

I use 20/50 BP racing oil in all 3 of my TRs. All run about 75 to 80 PSI 
at highway speeds and about 35 to 40 at idle depending on how hot it is 
outside.


Bob

On 05/23/2013 06:35 PM, Joe DeMuth wrote:
> Help. Just bought a '73 TR6 after selling the TR3 I owned for thirty years.
> Everything looked good about this car, but I soon became concerned with the
> oil pressure reading. At idle, running 20-50 oil, all heated up, the pressure
> dropped to what looked like about 10 lbs or less on the gauge. At highway
> speed it read about 40. I dropped the pan and used Plastigauge to check
> clearance in the mains. I checked the back three and all where in the 2
> thousandth range, which I assume is good, can't find a spec for that. All
> bearings had oil. I didn't do the front one because I didn't have a new timing
> chain gasket, but assumed three are good the other is probably OK. I checked
> one rod bearing and it was well within spec. The rocker train appears to be
> lubed its full lenght. Pulled the oil pump and found it to be just over the
> high end of the various specs. Put in a new one, checking clearances before
> installation. Pulled the oil relief valve and found that the previous owner
> had replaced the standard spring with the slightly longer one sold by Moss.
>
> I put it all back together. Now I have about 6o lbs at highway speed, but only
> about 12 at idle. I checked the gauge by hooking up an after market gauge in
> the oil pressure warning sender hole. The gauges read about the same across
> the whole range of rpm
>
> So, can I get by with this? Do I need to look further, if so, where?