I started up the RoadRunner this morning and next to nothing for oil pressure. I noticed when I was cruising at about 35 mph and it was pulling maybe 5 or 10 #'s. I shut her down and coasted / pushed it home.
I had to get to work so I did't pull anything apart yet. Where should I start looking.
Engine has maybe 500 miles on it.

Check your oil pressure gauge connections. I had one start leaking on me but did not pop the hose off.Gauge read diddly for pressure. Could you hear the lifters clack?

No noise motor still sounds good. I've got an old mech gauge.
Dumb question, I just have the plumbing running from the port on the rear top end of the motor to the gauge. I wasn't sure if it needs to be grounded out?

The guage works like a small voltage meter. It recieves Positive voltage from the dash wiring and the ground is through the oil pressure sending unit. If you ground the sending unit wire it should peg the oil pressure guage. So you don't want to ground it unless you just want to test the guage and then only for a very short time.

I would do that and see what happens. The engine does not even need to be running, just the ignition switch in the on position.

It could be a bad guage or voltage regulator under the dash. The guages have a small step down regulator that drops the Positive voltage to 5 volts for the guages. If the Oil, Water, & Fuel all three quit working it is often the under dash regulator.

Hope it helps.

Thanks for the help. Hopefully that's all it is.
I'll check it out after work.

You have a mechanical gauge so you can ignore the above post about the electrical style. It doesn't need to be grounded or anything else because it works off direct pressure from the engine to the gauge. Just be sure the tube hasn't gotten kinked or come loose. Good oil pressure readings are about 10lbs per 1000 rpm. Your engine will stay together with 10lbs at idle in gear and the 35lbs you had were still ok to drive.

DOH! I feel stupid, I missed where he said that.

Stumpy is correct, No electricity to a mechanical guage.

Disconnect the guage from the tube and start the car for a few seconds. Oil should come out of the tube. If not you got problems, could be a bad tube but more than likely a bad oil pump drive since the problem just popped up.

If oil comes out then try a new guage you trust. If the pressure is still low/none then check the oil pump drive for rounding off.

The tube and gauge are very old.I used both of these ( tube and gauge on two different vehicles for the 17/18 yrs.

How much oil should I look for coming out of the end of the hose when I fire it up?

Oil pump drive? Is that the shaft between the dist and oil pump?
I bought mine new from 440 source.

Once I loss a lifter when a pushrod broke, pressure went down to 5-10 lbs. Made it home with really no noise in motor. Opened the top, just had to put the lifter back in the bore and a new pushrod.

You won't see large amounts coming out, remember the tube is pretty small. But if nothing comes out it is a problem.

The oil pump drive is the shaft from the camshaft to the oil pump under the distributor.

If your not too keen on starting the engine with questionable pressure you can just jump right into the drive with very little effort.

Rotate the engine to TDC. Mark the distributor to the engine block and the rotor to the distributor.

Remove the distributor & pay attention to the position of the oil pump drive.

Use a large blade screwdriver to rotate the drive up from the camshaft and remove it. It takes a little finesse and a little trying but it comes out.

Inspect the end of it for wear. If it's rounded remove the pump and inspect it.

If it's OK get a hex shaft and a drill and drive the oil pump with the drill. (Preoiler) You should get resistance and some pressure. If not your pickup may be cracked or improperly installed.

If you get resistance but no pressure check the guage. If you get no resistance try reversing the drill.

When you reinstall the drive it should be rotated slightly from the position it was in before it was removed. It will rotate as the gear teeth mesh and it falls into place.

Hope it helps.

Possibility #1 Lifter out of it bore...
Possibility #2 Stuck oil pressure relief valve...
Possibility #3 Broken drive...
If you want to start the car with the gauge line disconnected I'd put the hose in a clear bottle.. I had one of those hoses break under my dash back in the 70's.. Big mess.. It may be a small tube, but at 60 psi it can move some oil...

Got FRAM ?

500 miles? Injure the builder.