oil pressure problem

[stevennat34]

i have just put a gasket kit thru my 79 iron oil pump and put straight 60 weight oil in it and on the oil gauge its only say 10psi am i running the wrong weight oil in it or could it be my pump:doh

[russzx6]

Where is your gauge?. . .direct on the pump or up on the rocker shaft on the head?. . .if its up top you will only get around that then it will drop to near on 0 once heated up. Down direct on your pump maybe 35 - 45 psi is around the norm when cold. I'm still on break in 20w50 on mine, but will go to a straight 50W after. An iron is more flow than pressure, after a rebuild i'll crack the seal up at the rocker shaft and see if you get pulses of oil out of there.

[stevennat34]

thanks again russ its up the top on the rocker shaft i was told it should have 35psi thats why i was so worryed just trying to get the bike in my name for rego if you wouldnt mind hanging on to the cams for a bit i am still really keen for them but its fine if you want to sell them

[russzx6]

Nah your right mate, busy doing all sorts of house stuff at the moment. They are packed up and ready when your game :wonderlan

[11B40]

Cook Nielson, the great writer for Cycle magazine put an oil pressure gauge on his newly put together 77" stroker motor. He eventually took it off because it would make him ill when he looked down at the end of the quarter mile and it would show 15lbs. These are low pressure roller bearing motors, they don't need a lot of pressure like a flat bearing engine would have to have. The bushings in the cam cover are at a high pressure point but beyond that, these motors live well with low pressure high volume oil systems. I've seen Bonneville bikes with 2 quart oil tanks.

[Ivan RoachCoach]

...from that piece-of-shit rocker box gauge.
If you want to get an accurate oil pressure reading, the gauge needs to be run off of the front of the oil pump where the oil light sending unit normally goes.
Even then, you're not going to get a 35 psi reading --- Harley motors just aren't designed that way.

[gypsybiker45]

Mine only reads like 10 when warm and at 2500. It pegs the Gauge, idling (30psi) when cold but reads about 5 warm. I have it more for looks and the fact Im too damn lazy to wire up a bulb.