The car is running really strong. Complete rebuild/machine work. Just installed Chris's - Tangerine's oil relief valve and CB performance oil pump and Auto Atlanta's VDO gauge and sender (oil Pressure). So today it's @ 85 degrees out. Been concerned about oil pressure and still am I guess. The kit from auto Atlanta has multiple threaded ports to tap into which is nice. But I'm not trusting my sender/gauge at this point. So I hooked up an oil filled gauge off that adapter they sell. Took it a while to settle in BUT here's what I have.

But first things first. Car is cold...start: 42 Psi on VDO. That's tops. With the mechanical it's now at near 60Psi (Cold start) Got the car nice and warm after about 15 minutes idling (Psi @ 22Psi and watching temp closely) And then took the car out for a rip out for about 45 minutes and pulled back into the garage. Green oil light flickering but idle is at 500 (yeah I know.... will get it up to 900). Pointed my heat laser down the oil tube and the hottest I got was 205. Temp gauge was @ 1/2 way through the white (Stock 73 gauge). My new VDO said "0" for oil pressure. My mechanical ported off the adapter Kit (directly off the block where stock temp unit was) said @ 5PSI. What's weird is when I hit the gas (standing over the engine and manipulating the weber throttle bar and temp still hot from the rip), the mechanical gauge will show almost 50PSI when rev'd to @ 4000 and also really reacts quickly to RPM's. My VDO shows maybe 20Psi tops and seems slower to react.

Couple of questions and observations: I'm more inclined to lean towards the mechanical but 50 PSI @ 4000 seems high (obtained back in garage, @ 205 degree's after rip) . The stock flickering light and @5psi on that mechanical makes sense too. Has anyone else had problems with these electronic oil pressure gauges?

Also wondering about some posts I have read from the air cooled community in Australia who swear by this 25W-60 and 25W-70 mineral based oil. One manufacture has a product out called classic V-Dub specifically for...well you get it.

https://www.penriteoil.com.au/products/classic-v-dub#/

Company is Penrite and another is Nulon. Just curious if anyone has tried any of these? I live in South Monterey County. Temps here in the summer are anywhere from the 80's to well over 100's. (was 106 last week) If I'm road tripping I'm generally in hot areas as well.... I-5 and the 101. Winters here can get in the 30's but that's rare and I certainly would not be cruising around in that. Looking at also getting one of Chris's external oil coolers too.

I'm going to try and ground the VDO sender better and see if that helps.

Just curious what others think.

The pressure you have @ warm idle is a concern,did it improve when you bought the idle speed back up?
Is the CB pump modified to work in a 914 ?,I understand the ports must be lined up to match the T4 case.
Electric gauges aren't that accurate ,when setting up 911 gauges in my car I ran several tests,I used a new VDO ,a used 944 one and a cheap one I had lying around.
With matched senders I got a mixture of reading against the 911 gauge unit,surprisingly enough the new VDO one didn't match the others,even the cheap one was inline with the others,I was able to establish the 911 was reading close enough to the others that had even pressure.
When I worked in the marine industry,we only used mechanical gauges on the large diesel engines ,the last smaller vessel I ran had a main engine worth the best part of 2 million...no point in taking chances and that why mechanical gauges were industry standard in that application.
I run Penrite 20/60W HPR30 in my 911 motor,this oil is a modern take on their old 20/50 blend,its a full zinc oil for older engines,I have been very happy with it but I have no experience with the Nulon brand.
Good luck.

Yes the CB performance unit I bought was specific for type 4 (914). It went in perfectly and the cover was not warped like I had read others had issues with. Not leaking one drop of oil either. I have read from others that love that Penrite 20/60. What kind of temps do you see there in New Zealand? Oh yeah.... the pressure come right up with both gauges once RPM are applied.

Think I just found my problem. My 914 VDO reproduction gauge for the 914 console is part number B91464111310. It's a nice gauge by the way. Well guess what.... my sender is a RVDO 360023 which is a 150PSI sender. I should have a VDO36006 I believe. No wonder my fricking oil pressure is so damn low. I'm actually happy.... was thinking things were really messed up after a complete rebuild.

Will check this out with the supplier (Of whom I have always had great service from) tomorrow morning.

Dave

General rule of thumb is 10psi per 1000rpm. Warmer oil will have lower pressures than cold. I believe the stock pressure sender for the green light has an 8psi threshold. Even at that, it’s common for the light to flicker at idle when hot. I suspect that once you bring your idle up, the flickering will be much less frequent. At the risk of starting another oil thread, I like brad penn or driven 50wt.

Also note that if you have low oil pressure and you do replace the bulbs with LEDs you can see them flicker more. It really gets you excited, until you realize why.

Confirmed with supplier that the wrong sender was sold/sent by mistake on my order. The new one has been ordered. So, thinking this through, this is a two pole sender meaning one pole is for the VDO gauge and the other is for the stock 914 oil light.

The fact that the one I got (The 150 PSI) unit certainly explains the reasons for the low oil pressure but I also think it might explain the flickering oil light @ idle. I mean the trip point for a 150 verses a 80 Psi unit could potentially be different. Time will tell once the correct unit.... VDO36006 get's here.

Will report back what my oil pressure looks like with the correct sender!!


Dave

Yep that won't help !!!,appears you may have a fix,please report back asap .

Got the new sender and I think I'm good. Cold start....idle is 60. Goes down pretty quick once I hit the main road and then the 10 psi per 1000 RPM is almost spot on (I'm actually a tad higher PSI wise.) for the remainder of my trip. The flickering green light still happens @ 800 RPM when the car is at temp. Gauge shows 7-8 PSI then that happens.

On a side note I purchased a brand new oil temp gauge from stack...it's a model ST3310 and ordered it directly from the manufacture. Just didn't like the stock white then red with no reference). It's nice and I know all the opinions about gauges but I like a clear view of the oil temp. Ripping around today (@ 80 degrees) I was at 190 - 220 and then I filled up and it shot up to just south of 230 when I restarted it. Cooled back once on the road to about 220. Short ride home.

I'm still thinking that an external oil cooler is in my future. Just get's to damn hot out here. Chris..... it's a coming!!!