hey guys so I got a little further on my motor last night, I installed a new oil pump and pick up, then I flipped the motor over and tried to prime it using a drill and priming tool. I was priming for at least 7 mins and all I was able to get is oil from only one head was pumping out of the pushrods (drivers side). I am new to all this and I am not too sure if theres anything I can check or do or maybe I just didnt prime the motor long enough? please help
It can take awhile for the oil to get everywhere. Try turning the crank just a little and prime a little more then repeat again.
something aint right here,got the pan on and full of oil?I've built 25 small block chevys and after about 20-30 seconds it stops my milwaukee 1/2 " holeshooter drill from turning at usually 50 - 60 psi
To get oil up & out of pushrods you have to rotate engine (as Merlin said) that'll align the oil receiver goove in the lifter to send oil up the push rod. I don't bother trying to get oil up the pushrods myself, i mostly listen to the oil flowing in the engine and continue until i feel that the oil gallies are filled. I splash oil on the rockers and light off the engine, it'll take a while to get oil up thru the pushrods but thats normal. You're there, its as primed as its going to get. I bet your drill bogged down quick and if you had a gage it'd show pressure. On the dry sump motors i can spin the pump with my hand and spike 50#'s. If you felt the drill grunt you're good to go. If it didn't grunt its' time to take things apart. Dumb me! You won't get pressure without the distr, it creates the oil p***age down the right side of the lifter gallet. Right now the oil is just raing into the pan, you can probably hear it.
When I rebuilt a Ford 350 I packed the oil pump with Vaseline to help it self-prime, worked fine. Don' t know about Chevy....
You must be running some kind of a shaft primer in your drill. You have to have one that has a cast body to connect the oil p***age in the back of the block or you only get oil to one head. Look at your distributor, see that groove in the body about half way down ? That's an oil p***age that connects the two lifter galleys. Without that in place, you get only one galley primed. You can buy a good primer or make one from an old distributor.
Ayers Garage hit it! Sorry i didn't mention that before,Not enough coffee yet. With just a shaft primer you won't get the oil to the other side. I cut down a old dizzy a long time ago for just that reason.
yup, here's a couple I made one for the early Olds' and one for the Chevys also, pay attention to which direction you are spinning
5-minute dirt cheap primer: At the junkyard, I picked up a distributor that had just been run over by the big forklift, breaking away the whole bowl and neatly removing the advance and reluctor stuff. Multiply good...I dislike cutting up good parts, what survived was exactly all that I needed, and it was free. I neatened up the broken edge and removed the gear...gear could just have its teeth ground away and then be left on, but I saved it as a good spare part. I dropped a s**** piece of 1/2" or so copper pipe, about an inch and a half, over the drive and loosly pinned it to the hole in the shaft. My pin...a roofing nail found in the street, cut to length and point hammered into a head to retain it. This holds it all together and acts as a funnel to help the thing drop in place. Up top, I found a useless Chinese socket that made a very tight fit on the shaft and just hammered it on...it will take more torque than needed here. So far, I had perhaps 10 minutes and zero dollars in the thing...ready to go. No possibly useful parts harmed, either. I had meant to spin the thing by cutting down a junk 3/8 socket extension and using a drill...but first I tried it with a ratchet, which required no prep at all. I found that hand turning by ratchet was plenty...makes sense, since spinning an oil pump by fingers will produce a strong stream! A few turns built up resistance from the ac***ulating pressure; I could easily pull 60 pounds on the gauge screwed into block, and oil came out onto most of the rockers. A turn on engine aligned remaining rockers, more pumping and done. (Edit...you cannot oil all of the rockers on an SBC without rotating the engine some. Oil flow is timed by movement of the parts over the orifices. Usually a single small change of position is enough to pick up the ones that are dry after first pumping.)
guys thanks for all the info, I am familar with a fair amount but not all. I really appreciate all of the input. You guys are great Thanks
This is a great thread. I was using a shaft primer myself. I nearly smoked my drill hoping that oil would apear in at least one push rod on the p***anger side. Little did I know! I'm going to follow the forklift around my bone yard and hope it runs over the distributer I toss under the wheels. hahaha. Good story Burce!
Just had the same problem using a Moroso Priming Tool. It would only prime one side. (drivers side) Phoned a local engine rebuilder and he said he has seen this problem before. Borrowed his cut down modified old Distributor he uses and it primed both sides. Seems the grooved collar at the bottom of the distributor shaft directs the oil to galleys on both sides of the motor where the Moroso Priming Tool would only prime one side?
Yup, thats exactly what I was going to add....I tooka horse beat HEI dizzy and gutted the top, ground a triangle on the top shaft to chuck in the drill, knocked the dizzy base off for asthetics and cut the cam gear off leaving the shield and the keyway for the pump.... without the di**y you aint got no pressure to the p***enger back as the oil galley runs around the dizzy shaft... yup, learnt that the hardway....tore an engine down cause of that many moons ago....then again I didnt have the internet to verify this type of info back then....
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