So I searched around on the bord for stuff like this... I dont know whats going on, I'm building my engine, got it all togather and looks good too. I broke my electric drill the other day so all I got is a cordless drill, SO I threw the cordless drill on it just for giggles and it seems the oil pump aint even grabbing any oil... now correct me if I am wrong, even though it is a cordless drill spinning much less rpm wise than the electric drill it should sling around oil? Or do I just need a bigger drill? the cordless did not even put oil in the filter nor did it pump anything out of the sending unit hole when I took that out... Is my oil pump bad?

 

don't worry about it. priming a SBC is a feel good thing for people with no knowledge or confidence in their work. most likely if you have the correct tool your drill doesn't have enough *** to spin the pump

 

im on the other side from ede, i am a firm believer in priming, i have plenty of knowledge & confidence in what i know & what i can do. i prime motors not so much to pre-oil, (but it is how i was taught & i also don't pre-soak the lifters), but to check for leaks.

by priming i have caught on the stand, a block that had a hair line crack at 1 of the passage plugs on the back of the block, another block that had a crack at the passage plug near the filter, & a defective oil passage plug on the back of the motor. how many passage plugs have you heard of that had a pin hole in them? im at 1 so far.

once the motor is in the car,.. not much reason to prime it, once its running & if it has a leak, you have to find & fix it.

either your drill is too weak,.. or you had it running in the wrong direction.

 

I ALWAYS prime a new motor just to find leaks. Skipping this step could just mean more work for you in the future. I learned this valuable lesson long ago when I primed a motor I built on the engine stand and had 60psi of oil shoot half way across my garage because of a plug I had missed.

If you are spinning the pump the right way and not circulating oil, you have problems. Even a wussie drill will spin an oil pump enough to move oil for a short while before it burns up.

 

I burnt up what I thought was a decent drill on a new pump. Beg, borrow, steal a different drill, just prime it first.

 

Well guys, the electric just did not have enought **** behind it to get oil up there for the first time. I threw a 3/4 hp drill on it and spun it till the drill started smokeing, good thing it aint mine . Now that the oil pump has oil in it the battery drill will throw some oil around, for a second anyways... so note to self 700 rpm drill not enough, 2,900 rpm drill much better.