Oil pressure in my Camino with 350 dropped to 0 at idle and will only rise to 20 when revved. No knocks and normal compression, and has good pressure upon start up, but rapidly falls on warm up. This indicates to me the mains have too much clearance, and probably had, for whatever reason, a little too much clearance before the pressure dropped from further wear. I will not run it again until I pull the pan and check the mains. The pump is O.K. , I'm thinking ,or the pressure would be low on cold start up as well. I will plastigage the mains, and use .001 or .002 oversize, (called undersize) new bearings to take up the slack. I will also check the rods, of course, and do the same with them. What's interesting is I found a box of special bearing shims I had, and the company that makes them is still in business, it's interesting to note. If I needed/wanted to I could use them behind either the main or rod bearings on my 350. Well made and designed, they are copper alloy ,and tapered for a proper fit . My box of shims have all thicknesses you might need for perfect selective fitting. They are all 6'' x 5 1/4 '', universal in application, and you cut them with shears to fit your engine. The shims, in my box, are multiple sheets of. 001, .002, .003., .004. .005. Deckwar Tapered Shims, Ojai , Ca. Their shims are called Paramount Tapered Shims, and I found they are now on the web.
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