Patman
Staff member
Since I started using the K&N oil filter on my Firebird on the last oil change, I haven't really driven the car hard very often since the roads have been wet most of the time but today I had the chance to open her up and watch the oil pressure gauge.
Here is what I observed. At 70mph in overdrive with my oil fully warmed up (after driving over a half hour mostly highway) the oil pressure was just over 40psi. I put the pedal to the floor and watched the oil pressure gauge as the rpms climbed to the redline, and the oil pressure did not change. This gauge is not an idiot light like Ford oil pressure gauges, it does move according to actual pressure (it shows 18psi at idle on warmed up oil for instance).
So my theory is this, and someone correct me if I'm wrong. I figure that since the oil pressure does not rise, then that means this filter must be handling the flow of oil very well and is not causing my bypass to kick in (in this LT1 350 engine the bypass is in the block, not in the oil filter) So that is telling me that this filter is indeed flowing perfectly for my needs. IIRC, with the other filters I have used in the past the oil pressure would move up from 40 to about 50-55psi at full throttle (I used Purolator Premium Plus and AC Delco in the past)
Comments anyone?
Here is what I observed. At 70mph in overdrive with my oil fully warmed up (after driving over a half hour mostly highway) the oil pressure was just over 40psi. I put the pedal to the floor and watched the oil pressure gauge as the rpms climbed to the redline, and the oil pressure did not change. This gauge is not an idiot light like Ford oil pressure gauges, it does move according to actual pressure (it shows 18psi at idle on warmed up oil for instance).
So my theory is this, and someone correct me if I'm wrong. I figure that since the oil pressure does not rise, then that means this filter must be handling the flow of oil very well and is not causing my bypass to kick in (in this LT1 350 engine the bypass is in the block, not in the oil filter) So that is telling me that this filter is indeed flowing perfectly for my needs. IIRC, with the other filters I have used in the past the oil pressure would move up from 40 to about 50-55psi at full throttle (I used Purolator Premium Plus and AC Delco in the past)
Comments anyone?