it looks good to me. as far as oil leaking around the intake

 

I just bought a 97 SS two weeks ago also. My oil pressure guage is doing the same thing. I've read several times on LS1tech that our cars just normally have a low idle pressure and it is nothing to worry about. My guage needle also jumps like a clock hand does. Does yours do that also?

 

That oil is not under pressure and should cause no pressure loss.

 

exactly.

 

You did right but for the wrong reason. Tape around sensor threads won't hurt an engine but it can keep the sensor from grounding and working correctly.

 

it does not jump around it is reading as it should. the oil pressure i have is not normal no car should be running around with it that low i got the car to my buddy's shop yesterday and we will be tearing into it on Monday. so i will keep you all posted. There is no metal in the filter but there are a few small pieces of gasket, so there might be a chance that the oil pump screen is just clogged up.

 

Well I got the new pump in what a pain that was,and after all that work I still have the same oil pressure so a short block is being built as I type this. I am not to happy with this fact as I just bought the car not but a few weeks back and was told it was just the gauge.

 

My gauge has *always* run low on idle. When I trashed the oil
pressure sensor (new tranny/etc), I thought, "great, with a new
oil pressure sensor, I should see better readings on the gauge".

Rwong. It still reads the same. 150k+ miles, 10/40 Royal Purple.
I've had people tell me their gauges read the same. Of course,
I'd be concerned about 4psi on idle - I'll have to check where
exactly mine hovers.

And while we're complaining, my gas gauge is wacky. When I
fill up, the needle goes past 'F' and points straight up 12 oclock.
And at some point, around 1/4 tank, the needle drops from about
1/2 tank to 1/4 (which is accurate).

 

Its not the fact that my gauge reads low it is the fact that "I DO HAVE LOW OIL PRESSURE"

If the gauge was wrong I could care less thats why I bought the car in the first place. I did not care if the gauge was the way it was but when you actually have low oil pressure thats another story. I drive 500 miles from school to home and back all the time I cant have my car breaking down in the middle of no where on the way back home or to school. Or on the way to class for that matter.

 

yeah.. thats how my oil pressure is too. it starts stupid high and runs normally around 40