My 1971 Series 1 was a barn find. After putting in new distributor, coil, plugs, leads, changing oil, filters, coolant etc. the car seems to be running smoothly, but oil pressure is at maximum when starting and after about 30 minutes of driving is 40 psi at idle. I run 20W50 and the car is going through a pint of oil a week. Compression is 150 on all cylinders except for #2 which is 130. A "wet" test did not increase compression on any cylinder.

Does this oil pressure seem about right? I might put in a new oil pressure relief valve if I can find one online.

Thanks,
Adrian

Hi Adrian,

IIRC the 71's oil pressure gauge only goes up to 60 PSI - later cars have a higher max - 80psi. In my opinion, 60 cold and 40 warm at idle is just fine.

I should also mention that I've seen my very-warn '73 go up to around 70psi when I started it cold during a New Jersey winter. This is a car that can get down below 20PSI at idle when it's really warm.

20w50 in all my Jags as well.

These are the cold compression readings on my 75' 4.2, pistons out of Strombergs, all spark plugs out. Below are two readings. Does this seem right?1123/1232123/1233125/1234118/1185123/1236120/123

Well that didn't paste in correctly:
1 123/123
2 123/123
3 125/123
4 118/118
5 123/123
6 120/123

Bill:

In my opinion, just fine. Some engine wear. but, it isn't the numerical value that is of greatest import.. big numbers vs smaller ones. But the differences in dry vs wet and cyl8iinder to cylinder.

A good engine, running well...


Carl