1972 super beetle

[WRONGWAY]

I have a 1972 superbeetle i just rebuilt the motor and put 87.5 mm pistons and jugs.it has cb performance heads with 40x35.5 stainess steel valves and 1.4 rocker arms and a high perfromance cam.i put penzoil 30 weight oil in it the oil pressure was fine till the oil got hot then it droped to m10 then 0.a friend told me that the oil may have broken down so i changed it and put in castrol 20w50 in it and i still have the same problem.the car has an electric oil pressure gauge. if i leave the motor off for about 10 minutes and start it the pressure is high again can anyone help me with this problem
thanks Bob

[stevethefolkie]

I'd cast a critical gaze to the oil pressure sending unit first - check the connections - then check the resistance (ohms) at the sending unit while the engine is heating up (at idle, since it's tough to run behind a moving vehicle with a multi-meter!) - also make sure your sending unit is compatible with your gauge - mis-matched components can give very interesting readings .... I used to plumb in a mechanical OP gauge mounted to the fan shroud when I had HP engines in beetles (if you do this, stainless braided lines and connections are recommended, you don't want a plastic line to fail and spray oil all over your hot engine, they tend to catch fire when that happens).

if that checks out OK then I'd look at the spring in the oil pump housing - it controls the pressure as I recall - if the spring is fatigued (lost its temper) it could be "going soft" when it heats up, dropping OP.

Are you running external filters? If so you might have a bum filter - or a kinked oil line - something to consider.

Are you running a deep sump? If so - did you extend the oil pickup so it goes all the way down?

30WT oil wouldn't "break down" that fast - and the fact that the OP comes up after the engine cools down would indicate to me that bearing clearances and such are OK -

BTW - sounds like you built a nice engine - are you still running a single carb or are you running dual webers or DelOrtos?

[WRONGWAY]

I'm running a single carb. right now but i have dual webers 44idf plus disc brakes for the front.

[stevethefolkie]

Originally Posted by WRONGWAY

I'm running a single carb. right now but i have dual webers 44idf plus disc brakes for the front.

quite cool - real brakes on a beetle are a treat - I used the front brakes from a Ghia on one of my projects.

Once you mount the duals, your unisyn gauge will be your best friend ....

Are you running a standard distributor or a .009 Bosch (no vacuum, all mechanical advance)? When I went to duals I went to an .009 - it was more reliable (I could adjust the advance by tinkering with the advance weights) and the split vacuum signal made setting up the stock distributor a chore.

Also, just curious, but on your SB do you get a wobble in the front end around 50MPH? They were notorious for that. I had a '71 SB that was terrible - I replaced the bushings, the struts and solved it by bracing the strut towers (tied them together and triangulated the the brace to the chassis (by the cowl) - apparently the stampings weren't really up to the stress the suspension imposed on it.

[WRONGWAY]

don't have any wobble at all

[stevethefolkie]

Originally Posted by WRONGWAY

don't have any wobble at all

I'm glad to hear that - it may have been a "year one" fluke or perhaps, as mine (a 1971 Super Beetle) had already started to rust when I got it (1976) the structure may have been compromised. I do recall, however, that it was a fairly common problem (the wobble).