2 qs, Idling and a part, also Happy Turkey Day

[Arrow_Runner]

Happy Turkey Day!

One quick question about idling.
I understand that these cars should idle at 650rpms, right?
Well if my car is in Drive(automatic), it idles somewhere around 550, if my tachometer is accurate. So if I'm sitting at a stoplight for a few seconds with the car idling at 550 the oil pressure drops, many times to the point where the oil pressure light comes on and the engine starts sounding rough. At this time I usually put it in Neutral and the idle goes back up to 650. Are there any explanations why the idle would be lower in drive and should I adjust the idle up? I've never touched it before and I'm guessing the previous owners didn't either.

Other questiion about a part.
What's the name for the shield that sits on the car side of the wheel hubs? I'm talking about the one that kind of wraps around the brakes.
Is that part needed/important? I'm guessing it would be, but all 4 of mine are rusted extremely bad, it looks ugly and I get rust bits everywhere when I do anything around them. I actually tore one of them off because it was almost disintegrated and it was in my way.

So, should I set my idle a tad higher and what should I do with those dust covers? What are they even called?

 

[1LE]

Not sure about the automatics, but the manuals are supposed to idle at 750 +/- 50. However, I have a similar problem in that mine normally idles at 750, but after a few minutes of idling it will head down to 650, where it also gets real rough and the oil pressure light starts flickering...

Not much you can really do about the idle. You can adjust the BISS, but the ISC will automatically compensate for it at idle. All you'll do is mess up the way that the car comes back down to idle from moving, and the way it idles immediately after start. If by some lucky chance you manage to get the borderline where the ISC can't adjust down further than you've got the BISS up, you'll have your higher idle... Until the weather changes... Then you'll play this game of chasing the idle with the BISS...

Short version. I have a similar problem, no clue why. If you need to adjust the point at which the car idles, you need a chip that can do that.

 

[gotlag]

Also, the "shield" you are talking about are just that, brake Shields. They are there too keep things from lodging into the brake, bearings etc. Biggest thing is water. I have removed them from some of my cars that had bad habits of warping rotors under heavy braking (helped get rid of heat) but what sucked after taking them off was trying to remember that every time you went through even a puddle of water, you would have to ride the brakes for a couple yards to dry them off, or if you went to hit the brakes, not much happened!

 

[Arrow_Runner]

Hmm, thanks for the help so far.

Any idea where I can get one of those chips or how much they are? Since I've been mostly repairing/restoring the car I haven't looked into things that would increase it's performance, but would DSMLink help me with this? I don't have that, but I picture myself having one in the future, so if one would help me out now then I would consider getting it now.
Also,I think the idle is also causing a problem when the car first starts because unless the car has been running for more than 30 minutes it will try to die immediately unless I give it gas. The car also tries to die when I'm in reverse and stop moving. I've had to get in the habit of shifting into neutral before I'm done backing up so the car won't die.

As for the dust shields, where can I get replacements? Since it rains here in Ohio more than it gets hot I'd rather have the dust shields than not. So far I haven't been able to find them on autozone or advance auto's websites.

So chip-$ or DSMLink help?

Dust shield, where can I find them and how much should I look to pay for new ones?

Thank you much and I hope you all got to eat as much as I did!

 

[1LE]

DSMLink will do it, and is probably the best solution for you if you intend on doing any other mods to the car.