I just finished getting my 455 rebuilt. Do you need to fill the oil pump with anything to get it primed? If so, what do you recommend? I have heard petroleum jelly or assembly lube. Does it matter?
If you have the engine on a stand that rotates, rotate it on it's side, remove the oil pressure sender, and squirt some oil in there. Fill the engine with 5 qts of oil, install the filter, and then rotate the oil pump shaft with a drill until you feel the drill load up. Stop your done. You can buy a tool to prime the pump or make one out of an old screwdriver and socket.
Larry, The engine is in the car, so rotating it is not an option. I have heard to use petroleum jelly or assembly lube. I just didn't know if one is better than the other. I do have a tool similar to the one in the picture. They work great.
Dan, under no circumstances use assembly lube. Petroleum jelly is fine. I would try to prime it without packing the pump. You can still squirt oil in through the sender hole. Then try priming the pump. If it won't prime, you can always pack the pump. I bet you can prime it without doing so.
Just my opinion but I don't like petro jelly....like having sludge in your motor until it melts (liquefies) in the critical first 30 seconds. Rather prime with oil.... Buick service manual may say to use it but they weren't building performance motors with big cams, etc....just basic service and out the door you go.....come back and buy another car....
Lubriplate is worse than Vasoline.....takes even more heat to liquify. A machine shop I know was using it and was wiping out cam bearings on initial startup due to clogged flow from it. If you fully fill oil filter and then prime oil thru sender with break-in oil, then spin pump it will prime without sludge in the system. I use outboard motor primer bulb to prime thru sender. Actually I do that every cold start on both race cars.
mellings make a tank you can use to pressure fill through the sending unit. I've never had issues just using a drill primer, I normally run it for 3 minutes cycles
That the Moroso SBC oil pimp priming tool. I took it to the HNL and incorporated it into an old distributor housing- http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/how-to-make-a-buick-specific-oil-pump-priming-tool.316351/
It wasn't the lubriplate imo,...if that was the case every cam I've ever put in would have wiped because thats all I've ever used,.. I even use it as cam break in lube,..with dual springs no less. Everyone has their ways, it's always worked for me so I'll stick with it.
Cam lobes OK but no so good for packing pump. Lots of small holes that thick stuff has to try to get thru in a hurry.
Lots of worrying about petroleum jelly and assembly lube but aren't most people going to put a drill and priming tool in there and run it until they see oil coming up to the rockers? That couple ounces of thick stuff is going to dissolve into the gallon+ of oil in pretty short order. Lubriplate would worry me as it's a lithium based grease and I was always told that grease and oil don't mix. Doesn't mean people haven't used it for years with no problems, I'm just saying I would not use it when there is good old petro-jelly in the medicine cabinet and it was good enough to be recommended by the factory.
Petroleum Jelly is what the factory used because they wanted no oil pressure prime problems on the assembly line. Petroleum Jelly liquefies with any kind of heat, and it will readily dissolve in the oil. It is not sludge, and it won't hurt a thing. Having said that, I would first try to prime it with a drill and some oil in the filter and sender hole. You can always pack the pump if you need to. Just my thoughts.
