is oil supposed to squirt from pushrods or drip when priming oil pump.
I rotated the crank 90 every thirty seconds for 5min. and oil just drips from the rockers. at 60psi.
Also if i turn it by hand once it is already at 20 psi.

Does this mean there is a restriction or too much assembly lube? The oil is at 40F since it is cold in my garage will this make a difference. I thought it should squirt and deflectors would be necessary.

 

you have a drill on the oil primer correct..
ok your just cranking the engine over
your oil should flow out of the rockers..you should
see a good amount of oil flowing through the heads<<<<

 

yeah i use a drill but am only getting a steady drip from the rockers. there is oil coming from all the pushrods just doesnt squirt like ive seen before on videos.

 

Hell when I primed mine I never even saw oil coming through the pushrods.

It's got like 10k miles on it so far.

 

what priming tool are u using? If the oil is cold it will not shoot out of the pushrods. You are fine.

 

you should prime with a modified distributor. the distributor keeps oil pressure up.

 

A SBC at idle barely drips out the rockers. I know the first time i did a running valve set on one i thought i would need deflectors to keep oil from spraying everywhere. I was wrong.

 

if its cold..by hand drill, or cranking you still should see a little flow...
I can tell you from every motor I built.. or even any I adjusted thats not true if you do not put on a deflector or cut a valve cover... with a running engine your going to have a mess
of oil to clean up..
I have oil restrictors to limit oil to the top end...even at idle there is plenty of oil

 

i am using my old distributer with the gear ground off since it was all rotted inside and had play. the pressure builds up to 60 psi right away and i hear hissing from the pushrods at first then it starts dribbling. I just watched a youtube video of priming a sbc and seen oil squirting from a couple pushrods.

I am going to start the car with the mechanical gauge and valve covers off to make sure. I think i may have used too much assembly lube and the oil is too thick due to 40f temp this week. I am probally overthinking this whole issue but just wanna make sure. I used 10w30 non synthetic for break in and was thinking on the 2nd or 3rd oil change i will run sythetic.

Thanks for the input I think it will be fine, just my first complete overhaul with no help or advice.

 

you will be fine you did say when you turned by hand you were @ 20 PSI - 60 cranking
if i were you do not use synthetic till 1,500 to to make sure the rings are worn in

 

yeah if i turned the priming tool (old dizzy) by hand half to one turn the gauge would go up to 20psi and you could hear hissing in the pushrods. then it would slowly drop back down to zero. I didnt think it would only take a half a turn for 20 psi thats why im asking about this. must be the melling hi volume oil pump.

 

I see that it's already been stated, but here goes again- The distributor blocks off part of the block when it's installed casing the oil to build up pressure and flow to areas higher up in the engine that it is supposed to go to, like the up the pushrods. That is why an old distributor with the drive gear ground off makes a better priming tool than just spinning the bare pump shaft with some kind of extension rod down to the pump hooked to a drill motor. Also, the drill needs to run in reverse.

I know you have done this, just covering the obvious for posterity, or something.

 

Why would the drill need to run in reverse?
I thought the dist turned clockwise, so wouldn't the drill need to run forward?

 

The correct oil priming tool has an aluminum sleeve to allow the valve train galleries to fill and create pressure.

Based on what you're seeing and the RPM I suspect your drill is turning, you're fine. if you could turn the drill faster you'd see more oil flow at the rockers.

Jake

 

well i just started it up for the first time with a mech. guage and it stayed at 85-90 psi untill it warmed up then dropped to 58 psi warm. still had little oil flow in the cylinder heads but oil is present and motor doesnt tick or knock.

 

Looks like you're good-to-go.

What weight oil are you using?

Jake

 

I used valvoline 10w30 non synthetic. Going to go synthetic after 2 oil changes.