I almost killed my 235

Just stuck a 54 235 that I picked up a few years back in my 51 Chevy. Got the motor in the car and was working through some quirks under the hood(typical first time fire up issues). I had been spinning the motor over to check the compression and then fired it up to see how she ran. Let it run for a minute or two several times trying to figure out my timing issue, before I stuck my head inside the car only to notice the oil pressure gauge said ZERO!! I instantly killed it and stepped back to figure out what was wrong. I had swapped the distributor for the one that was in the 216 I pulled out(had all fresh guts) and thought I had double checked to make sure it was stabbed all the way(going by the scars on the outside of the distributor shaft). Apparently after pulling it back out and restabbing it, I found that it was not all the way in. Once I reset it, I fired the motor back up and instantly got 40psi on the oil pressure gauge and the motor ran really well. I pray that I didn't cause any permanent damage running it for those few minutes with NO OIL PRESSURE. The temp gauge never got over 190 and the compression all checked out good( between 115-135 in all the cylinders), so I think I am good, just feel like a dumb ass. Just thought I would share my story to see if you guys think I hurt her to bad and to make the next guy triple check himself on shit like this. Especially the guys that will fire a motor with no gauges to see whats happening inside. Had I not had a gauge to check she would have locked up for sure. Just wish I would have caught it right away. Thanks for listening.

 

I pulled that very same boner on a friend's fresh stroked 261...it went for it's first drive without any pressure....but it didn't hurt it, fortunately (I pulled the pan and we looked at the bearings). car's driven like 10k miles since then

 

I doubt very much you did any damge.
I'm sure you didn't do it any good either. Just keep good oil in it, hang a rabbits foot from the mirror and your good to go.

 

As long as it didn't make some knocking/ticking noises, I'd say you are probably ok. You didn't wind 'er up did ya? Come on...you can tell us!!!

 

haha funny because i was driving a 56 chevy truck with a 235 for the first time and apparently the distributor bolt was not all the way down or something and it came up just enough to miss the oil pump and had 0 as well. after that i ground down a piece of solid stock and put it in a drill and spun the oil pump for a few minutes to get oil back into the bearing clearances and such and everything was okay!!!

 

Thanks guys, you're making me feel alot better.

 

I learned 2 things on the post-tie down the 235 distributor, and that squirrel is human!

 

you should probably burry a dead cat under your front porch on the next full moon, just for luck...

 

Only time will tell unless you pull the oil pan. But if the engine was recently ran before the swap it probally had enough oil around the bearings to keep any damage from happing for such a short time.

 

as a opposed to a live cat for good luck??

 

I guess if some of you other guys (even Squirrel) can fess up, so can I. A few years ago, I did it too. Still runs fine. You didnt hurt it - just drive it

 

A friend of mine once drove a 235 without any oil pressure for about 100 miles on the freeway.
Kept driving that engine after fixing the pump and eventually sold the car to a buddy who drove it for about 20 years now with annual round-trips to Mexico and is still driving it. True story.


We all heard stories about engines without oil and no load, that can run for days at high rpm before they seize. Snake oil additive peddlers still use that trick at car shows today.

The early chevy 6s apparently can take quiet a beating.
No wonder there are so many still in use every day.

 

hope it works out for you Dustin