Alright so This is the deal with the car. I got it as a STEAL! I traded my broken down truck for this triple black 79 350. It has edlebrock 1406 carb with the "top end" package as well. Who ever did the work on this car was a jerk. They had wires all over, gaskets missing, gaskets leaking with gasket maker all over the new gaskets not allowing them to seat properly. So I have been driving it for about 2 months. I wasnt beating on it all that much. But after i got it on the road id eventually hit 130 or so. Started leaking oil. Drip here, drip there. Then I was driving down the highway goin about 65 and smelled oil. Engine compartment on drivers side was soaked in oil! I mean it was spraying like a fire hydrant, only on the highway, not in town just cruising. Replaced fuel pump, plate gasket, pump gasket. Still sprayed. Tracked it to the timing cover gasket. Replaced. Sealed up the fuel pump push rod front engine hole as well. Started it up and still dripping, now from front of oil pan. I will fix that. The problem is that The oil pressure got soo high just idling(gauge said 60 at idle 80 if i rev) that the mechanical oil pressure gauge line burst under the dash and on my damn foot! So I dropped the oil filter and checked the oil pressure bypass valve and it seemed okay. So im guessing oil pump regulator spring? The oil pressure is high until warm then drops to around 10-15 and tops at 50 when I am really accelerating. Any ideas what to do? I have very little extra money so taking it to a shop is pretty much out of the question for me. Any insight would be much appreciated! I cant stand looking at it and not driving it. Its upsetting as all hell.

 

60 PSI at idle in cold engine is pretty normal, the 10-15 PSI at idle on a fully warmed engine is also OK. The rule of thumb is 10 PSI for every 1000 RPM. I guess that now you know why a permanently installed mechanical oil pressure gauge inside the cabin is not a good idea, and frowned upon by many race sanctioning organization. Vibration tends to fatigue the copper or plastic lines connecting the gauge to the engine and give the occupants a nice hot oil bath. Looks like you are going to have your job cut out fixing all the oil leaks.


Make sure the engine is properly vented (properly working, or valve cover breathers), otherwise blow-by will crate some serious pressure within the crankcase and valve covers causing all sorts of nasty oil leaks. I am not saying that poor venting is was what caused the oil leaks, but blow-by increases as the engine load increases, such as you were doing.

 

For a mechanical gauge, you only want to use copper line. If the one that burst on yours was a plastic one, you just found out why you want to use copper.

 

has it been doing this oil pressure thing all along or did it just start after the 130mph run?

 

Sounds normal to me. My cars have always had much higher oil pressure when cold, and your drop is OK, but indicates a little bearing wear to have the difference it has. All the leaks are most likely not due to high oil pressure, but rather old, or poorly installed gaskets.
130 mph run might not be thrashing it to you, but I'd call it pretty close.

 

The oil pressure started after the run. But I have been thinking that maybe it just sat a while/bad gaskets/old gaskets which caused the oil spray and leaks. I Really wish we had something around here other than a goddamn pepboys or advanced auto or what ever! They have nothing good. Most of the time they dont even have MR.Gasket. Bearing wear would make sense. Also does it make sense that if my oil pressure was too high it would come out of the valve cover holes? Oil isnt coming out i was just curious. SHould I switch to carbon gaskets? I just got new valve cover Felpro's. Should I just replace all gaskets?

 

High oil pressure hardly ever causes oil leaks, oil pumped up to rocker arms is not enough to fill the valve covers unless the drain back holes are filled with gunk. IMO you either have bad gasket, or building up enough blow-by pressure in the crankcase to force oil through good gaskets. However, if your engine is properly vented, this should not happen, unless you have worn rings that fail to seal cylinder pressure when the engine is operating under high load, such as in your 130 MPH run.

 

If the compression is good on all cylinders, and it runs well, I'd probably replace pan gasket, timing cover gasket and seal, valve cover gaskets, and intake gasket. Then paint it and drop it back in the car.
The only carbon gasket I know of is the head gasket, so that's the only one needed to switch. But I wouldn't change head gaskets, unless there's a problem, or you just want to do so while it's out for the rest. I personally use Fel-pro blue, and have never needed anything else.
And I feel your pain on the chain parts stores! Unfortunately all the great mom and pop parts stores are long gone, and we're stuck with the bozos at the chain stores, and what they sell. Only alternative is mail ordering from the big internet stores that have everything.

 

do a compression test on all cylinders, as ^^^ said blown head gasket can cause the gushers. oil pressure changing like that suddenly is concerning, what was the pressure before the run.

 

I think I will have to do that test and hopefuly it's just ba gaskets. Most likely it is from what I've read and seen in the engine. The damn parts stores.... I have learned a good lesson when shopping there. Always bring the part in question. Match it up. Get the part number. Order online haha. But sometimes you can't wait and gotta bite the bullet.