oil pressure

i have just about finished putting together another 3l with new cam, rod and main bearings as wll as a new oil pump and my question is what can i expect for oil pressure . all i can find in my manuals is that pressure should be 40-60 at 2000rpm but nowhere can i find what idle pressure on a warm engine should be. i reaqlize that the guage is really a fancy idiot light so i will install a mechanical one.. so any info on this matter is appreciated sam

I installed an oil pressure gauge along with ammeter, vacuum and temperature (analogue) gauges. At cold start it read about 55 PSI. It should not go higher if the pressure regualtor works. With engine warm, idling I get 10 PSI and at 40 MPH and above I get around 45 PSI. I believe these readings are within normal range for a vehicle (99 Ranger 4.0L) with over 90K miles. You may get a slightly higher readings due to tight fit but not much. Depending on what pat of the country you are in, I'd start with 0W-40 oil until break in.

my manual says 40-60 psi at 2k rpm on a warm engine. the first thing I did was put that idiot light in the crusher and get a good oil pressure guage. i only get about 28 psi on my 236k miles engine.

236K miles is a lot of mileage. Your crank and rocker bearing gaps could be a little worn out and understandably so. Also your oil ports could be a bit restricted and possibly your oil pump may not be putting out the required oil pressure. Try using a heavier weight oil such as a 15W-50 or thereabouts. I don't imagine you hearing any kind of engine knocks, do you?

no knocks! its been a great truck, thinking about putting in a 3.0L when the engine blows up.

just an update on the 3l. finally got it in and running and oil pressure fully warmed up is 60 psi at 1600 rpm and about 38 at idle so it looks good so far . in speaking to the rebuild shop that installed my cam bearings they told me that if there is a weak point on this enginen it is the cam bearings as the block that i got to rebuild i heard running before and it sounded good and had about 20 psi at idle but when i tore it down the cam bearings were pretty well shot sam