Hi folks, primed my engine with the drill, today. Had the driver-side valve-cover off. Primed it for about 2 minutes. Never did get oil out of two adjecent rockers between cylinders 5-7. Seems to me this has happened before and is somewhat normal? Most guys say to prime engine and then rotate 3 more times, in 90-degree rotations--priming each time. Not sure if this is really necessary or overkill. What thinks you?? Best, Ranger Aiken, SC
I assume you are using a 1/2 inch drill motor... The top speed is probably only 1500 rpm, equal to 3000 engine rpm. It takes a good amount of time to fill all of the voids in the entire system, forcing out all of the air. Our engines are set for significantly tighter clearances than most other engines. Cold oil takes even longer due to increased viscosity and nothing (combustion, friction, etc) is adding any heat. The clearances on a lifter are even smaller. I have ALWAYS turned the engine after the initial proof of flow to allow all of the lifters to be filled with oil, as some of them are under dynamic compression at any given time opening a valve. The rotation allows everything to be filled at nominal pressure (Do you have an oil pressure gauge at least temporarily tee'd into the system for break in, if not for permanent use?). Remember, the relief valve is going to dump any excess pressure back to the suction of the pump. What did you fill the pump cavity with? Did you use moly based assembly lube, "white grease assembly lube" or what during assembly? (Seems that you are doing the assembly based on your question) Any assembly lube or similar stuff has a significantly higher viscosity than the oil, and may be temporarily blocking or slowing the flow. You COULD use a higher pressure relief valve spring for priming, and switch back to your optimum spring for break-in and normal operation. Don't leave the higher pressure than needed spring in place, as all this does is increases the drag on the timing chain and actually forces the oil pump gears even harder into the face of the pump cover due to the angular drive motion between the camshaft gear and the oil pump drive gear, also causing more stretch over time on the timing chain.
also if you turned the engine over by hand the others would start to oil. it's the position of the lifters in their bores.
I've never understood why people prime the pee out of their engines. If you use assembly lube, why wash it off?
If your interested in how I do it.. First off, rockers and pushrods don't come into play.. since the heads are not on yet when I pre-lube the motor. They will oil, don't worry about it. Rockers and pushrods are installed with a generous helping of pre-lube. After the bottom end is build, and the timing cover and oil pan is on, I fill the motor with oil. I always plug the one passage in the deck that is pressurize.. see the oil mod thread. I then roll the motor up on the passenger side, until the oil pump is up, and then fill the oil pump up manually with oil.. pour it in the open area of the filter housing, the slot coming out of the pump is where the oil exits the pump to the filter. The threaded spout goes to the engine.. I install my primer tool, and turn the oil pump backward to suck up a little oil. This simply speeds the process up, I used to do them dry, a good pump will suck up oil, and it does not have to be packed with anything. I have done this about a hundred times or so. Now screw on your Wix 51258 filter. I then install my 1/2 cordless dewalt with the primer tool, and spin it on the fastest speed, until the drill slows down. Now count to 5 and your done. This whole process might take 15 seconds. The only purpose of pre-lubing an engine is to insure that it fills the oil passages and the oil filter up, and the pump works. So Ranger, don't sweat it, you will be fine, and priming it a lot more than likely did not hurt anything, although you have washed most of whatever pre-lube you used on the bottom end off, and maybe some off the cam. But run it, it will be fine. JW
Just did one Saturday.. No packing of the oil pump here either. Tilted the engine down towards the passenger side, screwed on a wix filter full of 3/4 qt of oil. Tilted the engine back to straight. Poured the remaining oil into the pan via the distributor hole. Plugged the oil pressure hole with a factory style oil pressure sending unit. Spun the oil pump with a 1/2 electric drill till it primed (about 15 sec) then kept it spinning for another 5 seconds. Put the motor on the test stand and fired it. Had 80+ lbs of oil pressure immediately..
Hi folks, Thanks to all. Yes, I felt as I was just washing away the assembly lube at some point. Well, ALL of my bearings have been coated, as well as cam, piston skirts, etc., so I will do as Jim says and not worry about it and fire her up! Best, Ranger Aiken, SC
