Thats precisely where mine runs and I'm not worrying. Seems normal for a hot day at low RPMs. Being that mine has pretty low miles and runs like that, I'll judge normal.

Definitely vote for a real oil gauge on that thing. You know...if you feel it necessary.

Jim..the Northstar'* idle with extremely low pressure. Toasty showed me on his wifes cars. My first reaction was

Andrew.. 30 isn't bad, if it keeps heading down..then worry. You didn't change the sender did you?

the sender was last changed when I first bought the car.

I was hoping for more recent.

For people like me who are doing research on this, could you post the PSI readings from a mechanical gauge as soon as you get them? Thanks!

Ugh, I hate my oil pressure gauge because I can never take my eye off it...I'm so frickin paranoid about it after all these lower end failures. Mine'* right at 40 at hot idle, and sometimes a tiny tick below at HOT HOT idle Cruising is in the 70 range. The whole issue is constantly on my mind it seems.

All the ranting/worrying aside, bottom line...I wouldn't be too concerned yet. If you start dipping into the 20'*, especially on a mechanical gauge, I'd be worried.

So back to a gearheads question, Would it be beneficial to do a preemptive strike and replace the bearings if the mechaical oil gauge shows it to be in the 20'*?
What would need to be done to prep for new bearings?

these engines are odd when it comes to oil pressure. My 98 will show 5Psi on the gauge when it gets over 240* but when its around 200 it never gets below 30 or so at idle. the 5psi scared me but the compression is still normal. If the motor was real worn out I'd think the compression test would show it.

as long as the pressure gets over 40 when driving I would not be concerned.

A compression test is unrelated to the bottom end. The piston rings and bottom end bearings show their wear with different tests.