I have a new 350 crate engine that I am almost ready to drop in. The distributer is out and I have a oil priming tool installed on the oil pump and attached to my drill.

My question is when I spin the pump I see no oil moving into the heads (valve covers are still off)? I pulled the oil pressure sending unit and oil shot out that hole.
I don't know if this is normal or not but I want to make sure before I drop the engine in.
Does the engine have to be running to see oil move up the pushrods?

Thanks for any insight....and yes there is oil in the engine

 

Depending on what type of drill you are using, the drill might not be spinning the oil pump fast enough to put out enough volume of oil to reach all the components in the valvetrain. I did that with my motor before I started it. I hooked up a cheapie mechanical oil pressure gauge to the rear port. After about 5 minutes with my 9.6V Makita I was JUST getting oil up into the heads. Sure I had pressure(55 PSI) but not enough volume. I turned the engine over by hand 1 revolution and redid the prime. I went until the battery went dead. Everything seemed to be fine.

 

If your primer is only the shaft to drive the pump you won't get oil to the lifters.
The primers that have a stepped collar that simulates the distributor housing is needed to flow into the lifter crossdrilling near the top of the block.
If it is the type with the collar it may just more time to get some oil up in there. I had just trickles coming out of the pushrods by turning the engine a few times during priming (cycle the lifters). You'll need to have the preload already set to do that.

 

SBC are self priming, so it's not necessary to prime, but it can't hurt.

I primed my new 383 before I put the distributor in and saw ~50+ psi with a drill (1/4 HP 110v) on the autometer gauge. I didn't get around to getting it to run for several days (had other wiring and starter issues). When I came back I just fired it up and didn't prime it, instantly went to 75 psi.

Also it depends on your lifter setup. I should mention I was running solid roller and they didn't show hardly any oil coming out of the pushrods at all while priming and spinning the motor with a turning tool.

Like said earlier if you aren't using a specialized tool you'll only be priming one bank of the motor anyway without the collar fitting. Also the drill might not beable to spin fast enough to get oil to come all the way through passages to the pushrods.

 

NO.

Noagenda,
I would personally NEVER start a SBC without using a primer and "SEEING" some oil coming out of "ALL" the pushrods. Any limp little drill can provide enough RPMS/Torque to get the pump working & pumping all the way to the tops of the heads.

As was mentioned earlier if your using one of those cheapo primers that just connects to the pump rod it will not pump to the head. I personally use an old distributor with the top components & Cam Gear removed, it works perfectly. The SBC Distributor moves in a Clock-Wise direction, hence so should your priming action.

As a side note, if you have any problems getting her started on the first couple attempts. I highly recommend re-priming the motor to make sure there is plenty of lube on all the bearings for when she does fire up. That's just my personal opinion although I believe my CompCam instruction set also may have recommended that as well. It's the cheapest (FREE) insurance policy you can get for your new motor!

Kurt

 

I am in total agreement with Kurt. I would never start a new motor without seeing the oil come through each and every pushrod. We also use a old torn down distributor to oil each of our engines.

 

i question about these oil pump primers w/ a stepped collar that your supposed to use. I was looking for an oil pump primer on summit but cant figure out if they are the proper ones so i can get lubrication through my pushrods. I have no idea whta im looking at, does anyone know which brands or what primer i want to buy?
thanx guys

 

Basically if it's just a shaft type with upper oil seal that's the one without collar. It should have budge close to the bottom of the shaft for the collar.

This is the one I bought.

 

the tool in the picture posted is the one I have, I have a pretty good drill and have worn out 4 batteries, I can feel the load on the drill when it is pumping. Again oil is coming out the oil pressure sending unit and today I pulled the oil filter (just to make sure) and oil there also.

When I bought my crate 350 I installed a Comp cam upon receiving it, so the hyd lifters were adjusted and preloaded. I have tried turning the engine then spinning the oil pump again..still nothing.


Thanks for all the assistance!

 

how many volts is your drill? maybe its not turning it fast enough.

 

NoAgenda,
How about trying a plug-in drill? If your using a battery drill I should hope that even a whimpy one should be able to get oil up to the heads. However, try a plug-in model anyway. Have you re installed the sending unit? [IMPO] I would definately NOT start that motor until I determined why I couldn't get oil up into the heads.

Regarding those "Adjusted" and "Preloaded" lifters you've installed, they will need to be checked, verified, & readjusted once you have completed the 30 minute burn in. I believe your CompCam instructions will indicate this is necessary. Depending upon what cam you have installed, you may have to install the inner valve springs AFTER the burn-in.

Kurt

My oil pump/engine primer:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/atta...8&d=1119819791

 

Well thanks to all the input I borrowed a old distributer from a coworker and used a electric drill and Finally have oil coming throught the push rods. I now have peace of mind that when I start I won't come up "snake eyes"

thanks again for the input!

Al

 

sweet! goodluck with the break-in!