A strange on going issue. I have a 292 that I rebuilt several years ago. It runs great, but every year when the temperature drops, my oil pressure goes nuts. When cold ,when fired up, a steady 50lbs. As it starts to warm and I start to drive, the mechanical guage ( 4th one) will start to slam up to 80-100 psi. When it gets up to temp, it settles down to a steady 40-55 lbs. I run 10-30 oil, and have checked the relief valve in the gear type pump. This has gone on for years and have never blown out a filter or anything, but it does have me scratching my head at this time of year.( temp in the 40s). Hmmm

The mileage you are mentioning is more what I would expect out of a vehicle. I might be getting a skewed view of things, as when I'm over there looking for transport it is in the lower price brackets as I'm not looking to tie up too much money in a temporary vehicle. Possibly a lot of those vehicles don't get the oil checked until the light comes on. If I see engine rebuilt in the add I instantly think it hasn't been looked after or it has been worked very hard.


These days it is a different story, there are good light weight oils as well that need to cater for more modern engines that can't handle the heavy weights but you wont see a junk oil with a wide viscosity range like 5w-50 or 10w-60


Last time I was there in 2010 I got an 1994 Suburban (well maintained but the paint was a bit cooked) and a travel trailer to tour around with. I ran Mobile-1 10w 40 in that and did the oil changes every 3000 miles. I ran Mobile-1 as it is an available brand I knew (normally available as 5w-30 or 5w-50 here) and is considered quite a good oil but expensive here. I brought a couple containers back as it was a fraction of the price of the Mobile-1 oils we have here and ran it in my wife's car. I was a bit disappointed with it, the oil level dropped quickly and didn't compare to the Mobile-1 here. I think I'll have to look into it a bit more for next year when we're over.