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The 1958-1962 261 Engine is the most highly prized Chevy engine of them all during those years. The reason for that is its Full Flow Oil Filtration. Here is how it works:
The engine's oil pump sucks all the oil out of the oil pan through the oil pump pickup. It sends the oil directly into an external hose attached to an unrestricted filter, back through a second external hose to the rear oil inlet. From there, it THEN BEGINS to do it's job in oiling our internal engine parts. There is only one path for oil to get to the engine parts. This is not like the older Bypass Filtration which gave the oil a secondary alternate route. Every ounce of oil in a Full Flow System is sent to the EXTERNAL filter first. This is the first Chevy engine to have full flow oil filtration, and also one of the last to have external oil lines.
So I ask you, what would happen if one of those hoses rotted, came apart, or got broken in some way? The answer is every ounce of oil at the rate of 30 psi would be pumped out on the highway in a matter of a minute or two. So imagine yourself driving along, talking to your wife or grandchild, enjoying the day, and one of two things will happen.
1) You scan the gauges so diligently that you saw the gauge start to go down right away. Good for you because from the time you actually see the gauge start to lose pressure until the time you shut off the engine and coast to a stop is about all the time you have to prevent catastrophic internal engine damage.
2) You are like me and don't pay that close of attention to your gauges. Even though you scan them regularly, most of the time your mind is on something else and the sight of an oil pressure gauge being to the far left wouldn't even register until the engine started acting up. Tell the truth who you are! In this instance, the damage has been done and it's too late. Now that you have caused this much damage to the engine, you can now look forward to about a $2500 engine rebuild. Unless you live on the Coasts where it will cost upwards of $4500. This of course is a worst case scenario, but even if you didn't need a rebuild, you are certainly closer to one.
So what to do? I'll get to that, but before I do, there is something you should know. The full flow filtration system is your best avenue for long engine life. Every engine since 1962 put into production vehicles has had full flow oil filtration. Keeping engine parts clean is one of the reasons we can boast 300,000 miles on our newer vehicles. We do not want less of this phenomena, we want more! That is why we have a full flow modification to the 235 engine in the main site's How-To section. Between that mod and PCV, your engine is bound to last longer. That is unless a hose breaks...
Enter the solution: An Audible Oil Pressure Warning Alarm System! It just doesn't get any more useful than this! Equipped in your truck, this 105 dB two tone audio alarm will tell you the instant your oil pressure falls below 6 psi. You will never hear it unless it is doing its job. No false alarms, no nonsense. Lets get some Solution Criteria going for this project. Please chime in with your thoughts.
1) We never hear it until a running engine falls below 6 psi.
2) We make it scaleable. In other words, maybe you would like to add functionality later. For example, an Alternator Warning Light, an Engine Temperature Warning Light (or sound), etc, etc.
3) We keep it compact so it fits nicely under the dash (somewhere).
4) It's not complicated to install and works as advertised each and every time.
Here is the Schematic Diagram for what I have so far:
It has a problem as its drawn out at the moment. With Ignition Switch ON and the engine is started, just the minute it needs to reach 6psi, the alarm sounds. To fix this, we can go with a time delay relay, an RC Time Constant RC Circuit, or one of these:
Put that in the schematic in the right place and we have a very solid circuit that will enable us to squelch any or all alarms we choose to use. The cost for this circuit is a very reasonable $8.50. So what are your thoughts on what you would like to see for your application?
The engine's oil pump sucks all the oil out of the oil pan through the oil pump pickup. It sends the oil directly into an external hose attached to an unrestricted filter, back through a second external hose to the rear oil inlet. From there, it THEN BEGINS to do it's job in oiling our internal engine parts. There is only one path for oil to get to the engine parts. This is not like the older Bypass Filtration which gave the oil a secondary alternate route. Every ounce of oil in a Full Flow System is sent to the EXTERNAL filter first. This is the first Chevy engine to have full flow oil filtration, and also one of the last to have external oil lines.
So I ask you, what would happen if one of those hoses rotted, came apart, or got broken in some way? The answer is every ounce of oil at the rate of 30 psi would be pumped out on the highway in a matter of a minute or two. So imagine yourself driving along, talking to your wife or grandchild, enjoying the day, and one of two things will happen.
1) You scan the gauges so diligently that you saw the gauge start to go down right away. Good for you because from the time you actually see the gauge start to lose pressure until the time you shut off the engine and coast to a stop is about all the time you have to prevent catastrophic internal engine damage.
2) You are like me and don't pay that close of attention to your gauges. Even though you scan them regularly, most of the time your mind is on something else and the sight of an oil pressure gauge being to the far left wouldn't even register until the engine started acting up. Tell the truth who you are! In this instance, the damage has been done and it's too late. Now that you have caused this much damage to the engine, you can now look forward to about a $2500 engine rebuild. Unless you live on the Coasts where it will cost upwards of $4500. This of course is a worst case scenario, but even if you didn't need a rebuild, you are certainly closer to one.
So what to do? I'll get to that, but before I do, there is something you should know. The full flow filtration system is your best avenue for long engine life. Every engine since 1962 put into production vehicles has had full flow oil filtration. Keeping engine parts clean is one of the reasons we can boast 300,000 miles on our newer vehicles. We do not want less of this phenomena, we want more! That is why we have a full flow modification to the 235 engine in the main site's How-To section. Between that mod and PCV, your engine is bound to last longer. That is unless a hose breaks...
Enter the solution: An Audible Oil Pressure Warning Alarm System! It just doesn't get any more useful than this! Equipped in your truck, this 105 dB two tone audio alarm will tell you the instant your oil pressure falls below 6 psi. You will never hear it unless it is doing its job. No false alarms, no nonsense. Lets get some Solution Criteria going for this project. Please chime in with your thoughts.
1) We never hear it until a running engine falls below 6 psi.
2) We make it scaleable. In other words, maybe you would like to add functionality later. For example, an Alternator Warning Light, an Engine Temperature Warning Light (or sound), etc, etc.
3) We keep it compact so it fits nicely under the dash (somewhere).
4) It's not complicated to install and works as advertised each and every time.
Here is the Schematic Diagram for what I have so far:
It has a problem as its drawn out at the moment. With Ignition Switch ON and the engine is started, just the minute it needs to reach 6psi, the alarm sounds. To fix this, we can go with a time delay relay, an RC Time Constant RC Circuit, or one of these:
Put that in the schematic in the right place and we have a very solid circuit that will enable us to squelch any or all alarms we choose to use. The cost for this circuit is a very reasonable $8.50. So what are your thoughts on what you would like to see for your application?