1954 with low oil pressure

Newly rebuilt 264, installed in a 1954 Special. Has 10 pounds oil pressure when engine is revved up and 0 to 1 pound at idle. Have checked it with multiple manual gauges as well as the dash gauge. Primed the oil pump with grease and a spinning drill down the distributor hole before cranking. Verified that I had good oil flow to the rocker arms & shafts before the initial run, using the drill method. Oil pickup screen is clean (took it apart and cleaned it and the oil pump gears during the engine rebuild). Using 30 wt. oil. Engine sounds and runs very, very well--no knocking, no noise, but oil pressure is still poor.

There is very little spring resistance on the plug when I remove or reinstall the plug over the oil pump spring. I did not replace the spring during the rebuild. Where do I get a new spring? Was not included in the rebuild gasket set.

I did install a new gasket between oil pump gear housing and its cover, the gasket was included with the rebuild gasket set. The old gasket was paper thin; this new one is thicker paper, more like thin cardboard. So, there may be too much clearance between oil pump gears and the cover plate. There is no wear on the cover plate. The gears are not worn. What am I doing wrong?

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

Leonard, Tx

I think I may have fixed it. Removed the gasket between the gear housing and its cover, put the pump back together, hooked up a drill, and ran some oil through the pump using a bucket of oil and a rubber hose, and a manual pressure gauge. Gauge read 25 pounds at slow rpm, and 50 pounds at high drill rpm. So maybe the new gasket was too thick, and maybe a gasket is not needed at all.

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

Good to know.

The new gasket is indeed a lot thicker.

File in my brain for future reference.

Amazing the difference a few mils make. Hope there was sufficient pressure and volume and nothing was ruined during the previous run-in's.

Many engines do not have a gasket between the pump and the block. You may have found out why.

I had the same problem (my pressure was not as low as yours, however); my engine assembler installed the gasket between the pump body and cover. I removed it and added double digit oil pressure.