Low Idle Oil Pressure, Wanting to find out how easy it is to install Tangerine's oil pressure relief kit Options

[Highland]

The engine is a fresh rebuilt 2056 stock D-jet engine running Brad Penn 10W40. Once the oil gets warm the idiot light comes on and the oil pressure gauge (electrical VDO) goes to almost nothing.

Thinking about trying Tangerine's Oil pressure relief valve:

http://www.tangerineracing.com/oilpressurerelief.htm

Is it pretty easy to install with the engine in the car? Does it slide in easily or does it need to be pressed into the bore?

The description says it bypasses the oil cooler so is the oil always going through the oil cooler even on cold start?

One more note. I misplaced the engine's original plunger and spring assembly so I bought a used one. I have since found the original spring and plunger. Just wondering if anyone thinks putting the original part back in will fix the problem. The original engine was built as a 1.7 and I don't recall it having this problem.

[Highland]

So I thought I'd follow up in case anyone else has the same issue and to maybe solicit criticism from the experts in case I'm doing something wrong.

I tried everything above and none of them increased hot idle oil pressure. The Tangerine device increases max oil pressure, but doesn't seems to change anything at hot idle.

It appears it was more a measuring issue. I removed the PCV valve from the plenum and got approximately a 4 psi increase. So perhaps I have a defective PCV valve? I've read some race cars pull vacuum on the crankcase to increase oil flow even though it results in decreased gauge pressure.

As advised above, I stuck a mechanical gauge in parallel with the VDO. At cold oil pressure the VDO read at about 12 psi low; 60 vs 72 psi. At hot oil pressure the VDO was reading ~6psi and the mechanical was at 12psi. I used a 12" kitchen thermometer to get accurate oil temperature at 220F down the dip stick tube. I had to drive it around a bit on and off the freeway to get to that temperature.

Thought I'd add this follow-up in case anyone else has this issue. The VDO inaccuracy seems in line with what Ratwell says.