SBC oil pan gasket, studs, and oil pump

[Cornfield creations]

I am wanting to change out my oil pan gasket. It's a 79 350. I have heard good things about the Fel-Pro one piece gasket and thought about trying it. Or is there something better?

Also I was wanting to use ARP studs instead of the stock bolts for ease of lining up the oil pan.

And finally, I was going to replace my oil pump at the same time since I have low oil pressure after the engine gets hot. Does anyone have a suggestion about which oil pump to use. The engine has 90,000 miles on it and is still untouched.

 

[1979jimmy350]

the one peice gaskets are great, the studs sound like a good idea
the oil pump i would be warry about replacing that to try and cure low oil pressure, are you going by the stock gague? If so you need to hook up a mechincal gague to get a true reading becasue the stock one can be pretty far off on there readings. If your still getting low oil pressure you might want to make sure the engine is still in good enough shape to put money into heads and oil pump so you might want to check the compression

 

[big dan]

yes buy the one piece gasket. after fumbling with cheap 4 piece gasket for nearly 3 hours I broke down and spent the extra cash for the one piece. after about 20 min I had it on and no leaks. the one I got came with plastic studs that screw into the block and hold the gasket and pan on while you put in the other bolts, then remove them and put in the regular bolts. super easy and leak free.

 

[dyeager535]

Agree with the other post, throwing a pump on a motor with low pressure is not likely to fix the real problem. Pumps can and do wear, but more often than not, it's internal engine clearances that are reducing engine oil pressure, not pump wear.

 

[BadBob]

Those plastic tabs were the greatest invention since sliced bread

 

[sweetk30]

to felpro 1 peice gasket.

pass on the studs. use the snapup ones that come in the kit. it also uses new bolts with washers in my kit i had gotten.

check oil press with manuel gauge first. my electric was o.k. but was dripping 1 drop every 3-4 k miles. changed that sender and gained 4-5 psi. so it was worn out.

also that gasket has anti crush blocks in the rails cant realy over tourqe it. it goes on tight.

 

[Cornfield creations]

Well in town the oil pressure is alright to me, what scares me is when we are going down the interstate for about 50-60 miles, come off and into town waiting in traffic and the gauge reads about 0-5 psi.

 

[1979jimmy350]

like i said the only way to know for sure is hook up a mechincal gague and see what it reads, that will tell you the truth, your engine could be fine and you don't know it or it could be running less oil pressure at times when you think the pressure is fine

 

[Chevy305]

Well in town the oil pressure is alright to me, what scares me is when we are going down the interstate for about 50-60 miles, come off and into town waiting in traffic and the gauge reads about 0-5 psi.

Well what oil are you running? maybe step up the viscosity?

 

[4X4HIGH]

It takes approximately 15psi of oil pressure to make a hydraulic lifter operate and if you don't hear your lifters clattering when you are seeing 0-5psi then your gauge is not accurate. Changing the pump will do nothing for you as the oil pressure being low is almost in 100% of the times a bearing clearance issue.