OIL PUMP PRIMING FOR INITIAL START-UP

[James F.]

Re: For what it's worth- Rob

Rob,
Oil will leak out the bolt hole of the cannisters that require the 131 & 141 paper filters. Regards,

[frank mccracken]

Re: Oil Pump Priming

I ground the teeth off of the dist gear because the gear keeps the dist shaft aligned on the pump. You can do it with out the gear but it's nice to have it aligned. I like johns idea to replace the gear with some tubing. I've actually run up an oil pump with just a long screwdriver blade cut off and installed in the drill but I'm not recomending that, it's real easy to modify an old distributor. I also think its benificial to to manually turn the engine over 1/4 turn periodically through the process. If you choose to spin the engine on the starter to get the pressure up, remove the spark plugs and disable the ignition system. It makes things a bit easier. This is a pretty worthwhile and simple prcedure, you should have no problems.

[Tracy C.]

If your canister is leaking before you tighten

the bolt, I'd say the internal spring that keeps the bolt seated is broken or you have some crud where it doesn't belong.

I've acually filled a sludged oil canister with carb cleaner to clean it up with no leakage or seapage through the bolt hole overnight.

I would expect a partialy filled canister to float the filter during the process of tightening. With due care however, this can be done without a home version of the Valdis Oil Spill.

tc

[Craig S.]

Re: Oil Pump Priming

Clem - while I do it right like you, did GM really bother to do this right back in the old days, or just "start em and run em" at idle and everything else. I wonder how many engines were delivered new in cars with cam lobes going flat from new.........Craig

[Craig S.]

Re: OIL PUMP PRIMING FOR INITIAL START-UP

Rob - for tool idiots like me, Tavia makes a sweet primer you can buy through speed sites such as Summit or Jegs. Why waste and old distributor when you can go spend real money on a quality tool? LOL Craig

[Clem Z.]

Re: Oil Pump Priming

as far as i know back then all the engines were fired at the engine factory with natural gas. now days they just spin them over with a electric motor to make sure they have oil pressure etc.

[Clem Z.]

Re: OIL PUMP PRIMING FOR INITIAL START-UP

if you buy a primer make sure it has a part that seals up the lifter gallery where the distributor fits thru or no oil will get to the lifters on the passenger side of the engine, that is why a converted old distributor works the best JMHO

[Clem Z.]

PS because they all now have roller tappets

no camshaft breakin is required

[John H.]

Re: Oil Pump Priming

Craig -

The hot-test stands at Flint in those days just fired them up (on natural gas, no pre-priming the oil system) long enough to check for gross leaks and set the timing - less than a minute's running time.

[Mike McKown]

probably very few

There is a dyno rolls check in the assembly plant and the inspectors would catch a round lobe as an engine miss.

[Craig S.]

Re: Oil Pump Priming

Clem, John, and Mike, thx for the input. I had heard about the fire on natural gas from fixture on the intake. Makes sense since the Holley was installed in St Louis. I was just curious if any precautions were taken in this first run in. My 1989 vintage crate LS6 I believe was natural gas fired as well at Tonawanda. When I pulled the intake, I saw evidence of moly lube on the solid lifter cam. The 3rd lifter from the back on the right bank (don't remember offhand if this is 6E or 6I) exhibited evidence of lack of rotation like the others after a 20 minute break in with outer springs only with the prescribed procedure of 2000 rpm, no idle, and prelube on my part of the oiling system. I changed out the lifter to an new GM piddle valve, and ran it in again, but haven't pulled the intake again to see how it fared. Anyway, I was just curious if GM was careful at the engine plants....Craig

[Craig S.]

Re: Oil Pump Priming

By the way, I performed lobe lift checking with dial indicator on each lobe, and all were close, so if any wear occurred it was not much. Visual inspection of the lobes verified no apparent lobe deterioration as evidence of the parkerizing or whatever hardening process is done to darken the lobes was still visible on this suspect lobe as well as the others...this is a 4362 cam, according to the parts book, for the crate LS6, but did have the rear oiling groove in the cam, so I used the trick in the power book to control oil flow in the later block style of soldering and redrilling the oiling hole. This makes me wonder if the cam is the 3153 part.....per Joe's comments. Only way to know is pull the cam plug and look on the back I guess....but it was installed in 1989 during June......Craig

[John H.]

Re: Oil Pump Priming

Craig -

There was nothing particularly "careful" about the hot-test; the engine was plucked off the conveyor, placed in the fixture, adapters and plumbing were clamped in place to fill oil and coolant, the fixture's modular ignition harness was connected to the distributor tower and plugs, and it was fired up. The operators checked for leaks or funny noises, set the timing, shut it down, disconnected the harness and plumbing adapters, blew out the residual coolant, drained the oil pan, put it back on the conveyor, and off it went to shipping. That's about as exotic as it got. "Hot-Testing" in engine plants went the way of the Dodo-bird 5-10 years ago.

[Terry M.]

Re: Oil Pump Priming

IIRC, they dynamically balanced at the hot test stand as well. At least in some years they did the balance operation there, and it looked like that was an activity that had taken place there for some time.

[Craig S.]

Re: Oil Pump Priming-Thx guys! *NM*