I'm trying to figure out a low oil pressure problem (at idle runs 5 to 7 PSI, jumps up with RPM, rebuilt several years ago but never run, not by me). I did the easy stuff like checking for the galley plug below the sending unit. It's there. I'm thinking maybe the next step is an oil pump. Would you guys pull the engine or just drop the drag link. 73 Dart Sport if it makes a difference. Any other ideas, places to look, before I try this?

Thanks

Just drop the pan, it's an easy change.

Might it be a bad gauge, or are you sure
it's a bad pump?

Verify the gauge is accurate before you go through the trouble of replacing an oil pump on a small block

No idea if it's a bad pump or not. It seems unlikely to me, but I'm not exactly sure where else to go. I've used several oil pressure gauges coming off the sending unit port - they all read low.

Thanks for the advise

As said I would check it with another mechanical gauge 1st. get a new std pump, open it up & rinse it out/lube it w your eng oil & bolt it up with it held solidly up in the rear cap as you tighten the bolts & dont use the gasket that comes with it.

Can I ask what type of gauge? Some sending units
are not very accurate. Was it an electrical gauge
or mechanical. One more thing, I have a friend who
had low pressure and he needed to put oil in the
pan. Not saying thats the case, but if it sat for
a long time.?.

Make sure the galley plug is in by the distributor drive gear, inside the engine, at the rear of the lifter galley. A lot of shops forget to put that one in and you will have low pressure.

The other thing I would do is pull out distributor drive gear and run oil pump with priming rod and drill to diagnose the problem.

The quality of the pumps has gone down lately, IMHO. I have seen cover clearances of over .005 and machining on the bottom out of flat by .003. The last one I tested was a high volume that flowed less than an old factory standard flow pump.

As was said, confirm the pressure, check the plugs and such, and definitely measure the clearances on a new pump if you change it out.