Oil Pressure - what's the norm?

[Angle Grinder]

Just wondering what sort of readings other people get from their Oil Pressure gauges.

I run my 1.8 coupe on 20w/50 and change it religiously every year so it never racks up more than ~1,500 miles between oil and filter changes.

When idling with cold oil, she shows Mid Scale deflection on the gauge, but when fully warmed up the needle sits just off the bottom when at idle.

Driving in 4th at around 50 - 60 mph (so around 2,500 - 3000 rpm) needle gives around about a 1/4 scale deflection. If gunned up to 4000 rpm I get a 1/2 scale deflection with hot oil.

When hot, the Oil Pressure gauge seldom reads above the midway point, but then I seldom go above 4000 rpm cos I'm a woose! 

Time to look at new crankshaft bearings? Any thoughts from others with more Flavia miles under their belts?

[neil-yaj396]

For what it's worth I get roughly similar readings on my 44K mile Beta twin cam engine, or at least I do now I have replaced the oil pressure gauge sender unit, after four years relying on the warning light only. I follow the same oil change regime as yourself, covering about 2000 miles a year.

The thing is I don't think the gauges/senders are very accurate at all. I know some Beta owners who race their cars add an after market gauge on the basis that the factory ones tend to under record by up to 20%.

[lancialulu]

Similar Fulvias. Put a mech gauge on to give confidence....

[ColinMarr]

Angle Grinder Mike, What you describe sounds familiar and I don’t think you need feel that worried. See photo below of the instruments in my Flavia Vignale. This was taken in April 1988 and I ran it hard for a further three years without problems before I sold it.

Colin

PS I should have said that you may need to download the image and then enlarge it to read the smaller instruments!

[ColinMarr]

When I posted the last photo of my Flavia instruments taken in April 1988, I thought afterwards that the coolant temperature looked a bit low and I half-remembered being concerned about that at the time. I think I decided that the gauge was a bit suspect.

At risk of being thought obsessive about photographing the details, here is another photo taken in April 1991 – three years and 10,000 miles later. The small instrument readings are almost the same, although I seem to be going a little bit faster, and the sun was shining.

Colin

[Angle Grinder]

90 mph...   I don't think I've ever gone much above 80mph in my coupe as she's got a Stainless Stell exhaust which starts to sound quite harsh at 70mph+  

[DavidLaver]

There's a view I'm looking forward to.  My eye is drawn first to how low the revs are at 90mph.  I'm starting to really believe it will cream along all day.  It also reminds how when I first got the Dedra Turbo I thought it a bit asthmatic as it really didn't want to rev but of course it didn't have to...  Its the grown up nature of a Lancia over an Alfa or Fiat "all sound and fury".  The Lancia whooshes past again with a sly smile when they get knackered or the passengers call a halt.

David

[ColinMarr]

Bear in mind that my car was one of the few that had Kugelfischer mechanical petrol injection, which came with longer legs - over 21 mph per 1000 revs in top. I think the late Flavia Zagatos may have the same ratios. On several occasions I saw over 110 mph on the speedo, but I didn't think it appropriate to take photos! Also, my car had a stainless steel exhaust and it was a bit noisy, but once over 70 mph there was so much wind-roar that you didn't notice the exhaust!

Colin 

[ColinMarr]

Off topic slightly, but in relation to mph per 1000 revs - see this photo which I took at a Millbrook test-day in 2010. Sadly not a Lancia!

Colin

[DavidLaver]

So at 6000rpm it would be doing....

On the topic of exhausts was it you Colin who remembered a Flavia with a split system?   Four into two and straight through.

David

[Angle Grinder]

Actually... I think my Flavia (ex John Crookes - he off the go kart engine tuning company) has a 4 into 2 then into 1 which passes into the rear transverse silencer. Shall post pictures when she comes back from her slave cylinder rebuild.

[ColinMarr]

The stainless system on my car was the two pairs of pipes brought together under the centre of the car with a single piece made like the four fingers of a glove, exiting into a single pipe back to a flange and a single pipe back via two boxes. It was on the car when I first had it in 1985 and I think had been made as a one-off. See photo below, which I think I have posted before.

An easier option would have been to have provided two separate exhaust pipes as on the B20. I once tried to buy a Flavia Sport with this arrangement - it produced a most characterful and rorty exhaust sound with a beat between each pipe. Sadly, the man didn't accept my offer, but that was a long time ago.

Colin 

[bobhenry999]

I have a 1963 1.5 coupe with a Nardi variante 1005 conversion, and the oil pressure when warm at tickover is at 1/4 and when running at 3000rpm is at 3/4.
I guess they all vary between cars, but with the amount of miles most of us cover, as long as it sounds and runs well, then its not to be worried about.
Flavias are known for not suffering with bottom end problems after all.