Hooking up an Oil Pressure gauge tester
#11
Cool I will try that when I get home today. The crows feet I got originally were flanged... which made things extra difficult, so I picked up some normal crows feet ones to try out as well if I don't have a good vice grip option.

And believe me, I've been using gloves heh. Damn near tore my hands up even with the gloves on between pinching them when trying turn the nut or having the scrape up against various sharp protruding metal hose clamps and the like.

Man I just hope it's not the pump... that looks like something out of my novice car knowledge comfort zone. But then again, the old original oil pan is a bit beat up, so it needs to be replaced someday anyways.
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#12
Replacing the pump is within your ability. But let's take it a step at a time.

First let's figure out if you have oil pressure.

If not let's see if we can bring the pressure up with an additive like Lucas and then go from there.
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#13
Hmm I guess I had read up wrongly about stuff. I thought replacing the pump meant removing the oil pan which involved lifting the engine, etc.

Guess I will go down that road if it happens (replacing the pump that must be easier than I first imagined that is).

FWIW, I'm handy with tools, and have taken stuff apart and put back together all my life. Altho it's mostly been electrical/electronic type devices. Recently rebuilt a couple of air compressors which were basically tiny very simplified engines which gave me a bit of insight. But man, even taking a look at that 351 Cleveland, I can't help but wonder what this is, and what that is, and what that thing over there does. For 1973 there is alot more to an engine than I thought there would be!

Another one of those times when I am wishing my pops was still around, he had a good handle on older cars and mechanics. I still however remember the day I brought home my 1993 300zx and popped the hood for him. He took one look at it and shook his head and said nope, he wasn't going to so much as try to change a sparkplug on that beast, lol.
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#14
Take a valve cover off and start it , if you get oil running out onto the exhaust, than you probably have some oil pressure.
past exp with oil add. they don't stay together and will separate,
the screen on the pump gets plug up until the motor heat starts to circulate in the oil but it never gets mix well . lost a motor in my work truck for that reason. (my opinion, I could be wrong.)
Do you have a mustang club in your area , get to know them, here you put out a call for help and 5 guys show up. the 351 is simple compared to newer ones . Its just a big air pump.
just remembered something that happened to me. make story short,
1 oil stop store+1 lunkhead 18 yr old 5qts 10-40 oil =no pressure
my big block loves 30w went off on to old logging road, lost 4 qt of oil and replaced with 30w =oil pressure.
Having said that, have you changed oil lately be fore all this happened?
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#15
Ugh... let me tell you, this thing has been a pain to get off, but I finally got it off!

Let me show you the magical tool that solved all of this for me:
[Image: PryBarMagicTool.jpg]

Vice Grip pliers didn't work, nor did my new crows feet wrenchs. So, frustration set in, and I decided to go the destructive route. Got the good ol pry bar out and situated it below the unit and tried prying it up gently. I knew not to put too much pressure on it as I didn't want to rip the threads out or anything. It was surprisingly weak and easy to pry up / rip apart leaving the threaded bolt intact screwed in. Now I could finally get a socket over it and unscrew the damn thing.

Alrighty, so after all of that, I got my mechanical oil pressure gauge hooked up that reads 0-140psi. In general, the car stays around 30psi, but drops down to 10psi a bit as well. Maybe 1/3 of my 10minute driving trip it was hanging around 10psi-20psi.

I'm guessing that's a bit on the low side... thoughts?
Oh and I recently had a new oil filter put on and the oil changed with Motorcraft 10w40 oil.
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#16
That's the spirit, just get a bigger hammer. you got the making for a refrigeration mechanic, check your oil viscosity still.
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#17
After a bit more driving today, I'd say I got up to 2500-3000 RPM's max, and the oil pressure on the gauge for the most part stayed steady at around 18psi.

I'm guessing that's a bit low, but not so much catastrophically low.

I know when my mechanic did a once over on it after I first got it, and changed the oil and the oil filter, he said that there mighta been 1 quart of oil in it at the time.. if that.

So maybe things are just working their way back to normal? Heh. I'll try to put a bit of stress on it in the coming days and see how the oil pressure does.
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#18
Glad to hear you finally got the old sender off.

Yes, 18psi is to low for a normally running motor. Here is the reason behind the thoughts of a good oil additive like Lucas.

It sounds like your motor has had a hard life before it came your way. I don't think an oil pump will fix your problem - the low oil pressure cause is more than likely worn main bearings. To keep you from an immediate rebuild the Lucas oil additive will coat the main bearings both protecting them and helping to bring up the oil pressure thus protecting the other parts of the system. It is not a fix - it buys time until you are ready to finance a rebuild.

Yes, there are other possibilities but the scenario I just stated is probably highest on the probability list for a 351C.

And yes, to change an oil pump the motor needs to be jacked and pull the pan. But I believe that doing that would be within your capability - I did it when I was eighteen in an apartment parking lot in the rain when my 351C sucked up a piece of broken valve seal into the pump and sheared the distributor pin. Not saying it is easy - just saying you could do it!

But let's look at options first.
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#19
So after you were able to get a socket on it ,how much effort did it take to break lose?
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#20
Uh... maybe 80% of my strength using both hands? Heh, it was one there pretty good, I could easily see why I couldn't get it undone when I was trying to get up underneath it to get a grip on a nut I couldn't even see.
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