just dropped my 350 crate motor and put in five quarts of oil but dip sick shows iam short & when i idle in drive the pressure shows its low on dash but when i let my foot of the gas its reads normal. WTF is going on here??????

 

how much pressure do you have when hot, idling in gear?

 

I dont trust stock guages. After taking all the stock stuff out and putting new electric Autometer guages in and having every guage read differently than stock 18 year old guages, I dont trust the stock stuff.

First thing I would do is to get a good mechanical oil pressure guage and hook it up to the port behind the intake manifold. See what it says. Your stock one may be right, but I would not trust it right away without confirming with another guage.

 

The dipstick is also a gauge. It's not always accurate. When someone always asks my how much oil something takes, I just say to the full mark on the dipstick.

As mentioned above, confirm the dash gauge with a mechanical gauge to see if they're the same reading.

 

Do you have a stock oil pan? Or a extra capacity one with a stock oil pump?

 

Also, you are checking the oil level with the motor off and its sat for atleast 5 minutes or so to allow for drainback? Dont be offended by the question if you are checking it the right way, but I have had people check the level with the motor running and tell me they were low on oil.

 

Oil capacity is also affected by oil filter choice. A WIX 1060 holds a 1/2 quart more than a 1065.