Questions for a oil problem on a dry sumped engine

[s4audinut]

I have a highly tuned turbocharged 4 cylinder engine which runs a 3 stage dry sump pump. My 3 gallon sump tank is in the trunk of a sedan and the to/from lines are insulated to hold heat. The car even when run on the track never go's above 175 on oil temp (taken from block sensor).
My problem is that when hot (and I dont cosider the temps I have to be hot enough for the cars good) I only get 14-17 lbs of pressure when idling. It is also street driven 50-100 miles per week. The pressure is fine running 20w/50 when running and perfect on top end of rpm scale. I cannot adjust the pump location and it will be difficult to do a gear for it (1 reason is because I dont know the math and the avail belts are size limited in my application. What I need to know is whether I can move up the idle pressure with the viscosity of oil I need yet still get my required pressure at 7800rpm? I have an option to heat the tank before starting so initial startup would be with fully heated oil. I dont understand this stuff well enough to risk an engine I have this much money/time/blood in, so if you are knowledgeable please give me your experience.
Thanks,
Rod

 

[Lonnie]

Call the pump manufacturer. Sounds like you understand enough about what's happening to benefit from a pressure/rpm map. It may be that the higher rpm/pressure curve will flatten out enough that moving the idle up will not effect it. 14/17 psi may be just fine. Where are you reading this pressure? Exactly where? Are you considering both cold pressure and warm pressure. You do need to get the oil up to around the boiling point of water to get the best performance from the oil. Cylinder walls like warm oil and getting moisture out every time your run is important, too. More details please.

 

[s4audinut]

I have solved my problem with some ELF 10w/50 synthetic. The 14lbs was not good, and apparently the ELF brings this up to 24lbs even when very hot, and the pressure/rpm at the top is fine now. It looks like the viscosity spread covered the problem along with setting the idle to 1400. I am now getting required oil to the cams. This engine was built to race specs and is now quieter as well with the new oil. I almost went with their 0w/60 racing, but the car still spends time on the street and the detergent will be helpful. Also I have a tank heater installed into the tank and I am now heating oil before each time I take the car out, which should do the job of cooking contaminants out each time