I used my priming tool to spin the oil pump in my new engine today since I finally got oil in it. I ran it for like 2 minutes and then pulled the passenger side valve cover off and there was no oil there. I know I had pressure because I could feel it in the hoses going to and from my oil cooler. Does the drill just not spin fast enough or is there something wrong??

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Riccioli Performance Motorworks

--RPM Racing--

Getting there.....383 with Super Ram, Bosch 24# SVO's, MSD, Edelbrock 58 mm TB, 700R4 tranny, Eibach springs, Koni 12 way adjustable shocks and struts, and more!! Now let's pray it runs when it's all back together!!!!

 

The oil is pumped to the rockers by the lifters, not the oil pump.

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82 Berlinetta, orig V-6 car, now w/86 LG4/TH700R4. 2.93 limited slip. 2-1/2" cat-back, ZZ3 intake, Accel HEI SuperCoil. AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Daily driver, work-in-progress (LG4 CC system w/'87 LB9 block, ZZ3 cam, ported World 305 heads, Hooker 2055 headers, 3" Catco cat & 3" catback, restalled TC, Spohn SFCs).
57 Bel Air, my 1st car. '66 396, 9.7 CR forged TRWs, Weiand Action+, Holley 750VS w/4150 conversion, GK 270 cam, Magnum rockers, Jacobs Omnipack, 1-3/4" Hedders & 3" Warlocks, TH400 w/TCI Sat Night Special conv & Trans-Scat shift kit, MegaShifter, 3.08 8.2" 10-bolt w/Powertrax, AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Idles smooth @ 600 RPM in D. Best 15.02/95.06 @ 5800' Bandimere (corrected 13.93/102.4 @ sea level).

 

This may be hard to explain but maybe not since you're smart enough to be priming the engine anyway.

If you're using just a rod with a drill you're priming the pump and filling the filter without any pressure being built up. The oil to the lifters, then the top end of the engine passes through a hole just below the lifter valley but RIGHT THROUGH a passage in the distributors outer shaft.

|.........|
|.........|
--- --- <--- Distributor
...|...|
--|...|--- <--- Manifold hole
...|...|
--|...|--- <--- Lifter valley
....|.|<---- Oil to top end through here
...|...| <--- Block casting
....|.|
....|.|
....|.|
....///

Ignore the dots, needed them for formatting.

In other words, without a distributor, or a oil pump primer with a piece that sits down into this passage to keep the oil from just dumping back into the engine, the oil will not reach the lifters, much less, the push rods and rockers.

If this doesn't make sense I'll look for a picture.

(I didn't do a very good job of describing this but. . .

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_ ___ _
SMasterson



[This message has been edited by SMasterson (edited September 07, 2001).]

 

Since the 4th & 5th words he used were "priming tool", I assumed he wasn't just using a rod.

If it was just a rod, then what you said is correct.

 

My priming tool does have the provision to block off that area, but I still don't see how it would reach the top. I mean doesn't the oil get through the rockers through the pushrods, which get the oil from the lifters? That would mean the lifters would have to be pumping (engine rotating) to pump oil up there right?

 

Try priming a short time, then rotate the crank about 180 degrees, prime some more, rotate 180 degrees (back to top dead center), prime some more, rotate 180 degrees, prime some more, rotate 180 degrees (which should bring you back to top dead center or at least the point you started at).

Works for me.

Just a thought-did you fill the lifters with oil before assembly?
jms

Note-After thinking a little about this, I changed the message from 90 degrees to 180 degrees in order to rotate the crank two full times. The 90 degree rotations would have made just one full rotation. This gets the engine back to the same place you started at.

[This message has been edited by jms (edited September 07, 2001).]


[This message has been edited by jms (edited September 08, 2001).]

 

Paul,

Unfortunately, the text format diagram is not as clear as it might be (that's tough to do with non-fixed character width text).

The right lifter gallery is drilled from end to end in the case. There is a small plug at both ends that indicates where that is. The distributor shaft goes right through that area:



The two lowest shoulders on the shaft are used to close that oil passageway and direct oil around the distributor housing to the lifters in the right bank. Lack of oil retention there would likely also let the oil flowing to the other lifter bank to drain instead of building pressure and flowing through the lifters and push rods.




It's very helpful to have a junk distributor with no gear and adapt it to prime the engine.

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Later,
Vader
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"Click - Click - BOOM!"
Adobe Acrobat Reader

 

No, the oil pump, if the system is pressurized, should pump oil to the rockers without it running. I always submerge my Hyd lifters in oil, and prime them with a pushrod that I welded a handle by pushing the plunger up and down until I stop seeing air bubbles. Then I fill the oil filter about half-way with oil, then install it. After that, I plug up the oil sending unit hole(s), and put in my primer. I usually see oil coming from all the rockers in less than a minue's time. In a few cases, I have had to rotate the crank to get oil to one side.


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82 Z28 383, Ported 215cc Dart Iron Eagle Heads 72 cc Comb. Chambers, Comp custom grind Hyd roller cam, Speed Pro .250" domes, Wheeler Motorsports 4340 I beam rods, Eagle 5140 steel crank, Weiand Team G intake, Holley 830 DP, hedman headers
Trans: Turbo 350 w/ 4000 stall -- Rearend 7.5 w/ Richmond 4.10's, Auburn Minispool
Best ET:11.60 @ 114.56, w/ a 7.34 1/8 @ 93.50, and a 1.622 60'


89 RS, L03 305, Hypertech Chip,cat delete, Dynomax exhaust,K&N open element Filter,160 stat, MSD coil --Trans:700R4 Corvette Servo -- Rearend: 7.5 GM 3.42 w/ posi-lock

Bassett Racing

 

Look at that oil flow diagram in Vader's post. Look right above the rear cam bearing, where the 3 passages come together. Now follow the one that goes "into the page" toward the right bank lifters. See the distributor gear? Well, right above that, the hole for the distributor housing goes right through the middle of that passage that feeds those lifters. The housing has an oil passage made into it as shown by both Vader's pic and SMasterson's, where those 2 bosses on either side of it "seal" up against the block casting on above and below the lifter oil gallery. So without a distributor housing (or the type of priming tool that simulates it) you will have a massive internal oil leak right there; it will be impossible to develop more than 5 or 10 psi of pressure in the system, and no oil whatsoever (except what just happens to squirt from one side of the dist hsg hole to the other) will make it to the right lifters, push rods, & rockers.

IMHO its usually not necessary to prime an engine that way anyway; I generally just use plenty of build lube, making sure I get some of the appropriate kind on every wear surface, and fill up the oil filter. That's basically the same situation as you have right after changing the oil & filter in an engine that's been running.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

Well my priming tool does have the sleeve for sealing inside so I would think that I still have to rotate the crank maybe? I mean as long as I'm getting oil running through my oil cooler then there shouldn'd be any reason for it to not flow to the heads once the distributer is in and the car is running right?

 

Paul,

Try turning the crank 360°. This should turn the cam 180° and have moved all the lifters in their bores. If you didn't soak the lifters in oil or prime them before assembly, it could take a while to get them filled and get oil flowing up the pushrods.

------------------
Later,
Vader
------------------
"Click - Click - BOOM!"
Adobe Acrobat Reader

 

If your tool doesn't simulate the presence of a dist housing in order to seal up the right-hand bank's lifter oil gallery, you will NEVER get any oil pressure, period. Most of all you will NEVER get flow to the right bank lifters, because their passage is a wide open hole. Basically you're wasting your time. It doesn't matter where the crank is, or where the cam is, as long as you have an oil system that has a gigantic open hole, it's impossible to pressurize it. Rotating the crank won't plug the leak.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

You guys did a lot better job of describing that than I did! (Thanks)

It took mine about 45 seconds and was probably only turning about 100rpms with an air drill. Oil came out of the left side first, starting with the back and then gradually out of the front. At that point, I knew I had oil everywhere I needed it.

I did have to lower the aluminum part that oil passes through because it was too high by about an inch. I don't know why it was off but I bought it off eBay and it was just wrong. Then I had to narrow the end of the shaft where it sits into the oil pump shaft because it was just too wide and it slipped as soon as it started building up pressure.

I did soak the lifters before installing them so maybe that's why it worked so quick.
I also completely filled the oil filter and my Canton adapter has no bypass at the adapter.



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_ ___ _
SMasterson

 

It's all good. I rotated the crank 360 today and tried it again and got oil to the heads this time. Thanks for all your help. Now hopefully it will be running in about a month....school is such a distraction.

------------------
Riccioli Performance Motorworks

--RPM Racing--

Getting there.....383 with Super Ram, Bosch 24# SVO's, MSD, Edelbrock 58 mm TB, 700R4 tranny, Eibach springs, Koni 12 way adjustable shocks and struts, and more!! Now let's pray it runs when it's all back together!!!!