Oil Pressure flat floor Series 1

[Tony]

I was at a meeting today and a chap who has a S1 Flat floor was concerned
that his oil pressure was 20psi on tick over when the engine was warmed up.
I thought this was normal and mine was rhe same, However on the way home I noticed mine was about 30psi. Should this chap be concerned as a friiend of his thought this was a bit low and needed looking at. What is the view of the forum so I can advise him the correct answer.
Thanks for you help in advance

[christopher storey]

The electric gauges and senders are notoriously inaccurate . If anyone has worries about oil pressure the thing to do is to plug a bourdon tube type gauge into the main oil gallery and see what the pressure really is . Unless this shows very low pressure ( which I would regard as less than say 30 lbs hot at 3000 rpm , or less than 10 lbs at idle - stop worrying. The XK engine in any case will operate for years on low oil pressure. Further, as has been pointed out a few times before, people often worry about pressure when it is inhibited flow they should be concerned about !