Well I'm slowly ****oning up my hemi and thought I would prime the pump while the valley cover/intake/valve covers are off. I looked at how I could prime the pump and came up with an awesome pump primer idea that I thought would work good. I needed a round piece of stock about 1/2 dia. and groove the end to fit the oil pump spade. I found a few close pieces but they were a bit large to fit through the cam driven shaft bronze bushing. Then I thought about an old 3/8" extension that I had that was about 10" long. I cut the female end off and then ground a groove to fit the oil pump spade and dropped it down the hole onto the pump. It fit like a glove through the bronze bushing which is good as it won't wobble around. I then installed a 4" extension into the female end of the 10" extension and then stuck the piece that I cut off the 10" extension into my 1/2" drill motor. I was ready to start priming!!!!! So I installed the male short end of the extension into the female 4" extension and started priming. Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...(Drill turning)............... WHOA!!!!!!!!! Mount St Helen's erupted again in my garage!!!!! Damn it, I forgot the oil hole beside the distributor that held the factory oil line for the gauge. I installed a plug and spent the next 20 minutes wiping all the oil off the engine, floor, arms, frame,etc etc. and was back in business. Bzzzzzzzzzzzz.......... Hmmm whats all that gushing by where the distributor gear driven shaft will be once primed. I pulled my primer made from my extension out and I can see that theres a plug that should be in the lifter galley. It felt like it should be just an expansion plug as there is a shoulder about 1/4" into the hole. I stick a piece of safety wire with a z shape in through the distributor hole so I can feel if there are Thread's as it would be a real ***** trying to get an expansion plug into that hole without removing the transmission and flex plate to remove the outer block plug to have access to the internal plug. l l l Shape of wire. l,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, l______ ,,,,,,,,,,,l,,,,,,,, Well dragging the wire in the smaller hole I could feel the ridges through the wire !!!! Yes!!! Its a screw in plug. I found a plug that had a 5/16" square but I had no 5/16" square stock so I grabbed a 1 1/2" long grade 8 bolt and ground it to 5/16" and installed the plug using the bolt as a socket and got it nice and snug!!!!! I'm sure glad I primed it before ****oning up the valley pan, intake etc as that was about the only access to the missing plug!!!!!! I primed the engine and am getting oil to the rocker shafts now. Big relief!!!!!!! ****gy on the HAMB made me some intake flanges but at this point I think I will just ****on up the engine with the stock two bbl and break it in, that way the jetting etc will be close. I still need to make my exhaust also but found the perfect pipe that fits the flange holes perfectly but will take alot of pie cutting to get the sharp angle that I need coming from the engine.
you sure dodged that bullet! i remember when i worked at T.A.M. engineering and a motor had come back under warranty and the buyer insisted he had primed the engine and demanded it be covered. they asked him to recount the procedure and he says ok and grabs the drill with primeing tool still in it goes theough the motion of what he did and the warranty guy says "are you positive"? guy says 100% our guy hands him a xerox copy of distributer rotation and his drill was set opposite! they loaded the motor and he drove off. those dry starts really ruin lots of motors.
I got that boy scout ribbon! Forgot the distributor plug, intake on. Tried every tool in the book, plus bubble-gum to put the plug in through the distributor hole. After a day I surrendered and popped the intake and valley cover off, and was done in 3 minutes. Just had to buy another set of intake gaskets. The good news is, I'll NEVER do that again.
It's a mistake that happens. People put in the outer plug & forget or don't know about the inner plug. A common mod is to drill a .030-.050 hole in the inner plug to help lube the int shaft/cam-dist gear.
did the same thing with my 315 ...only i was so excited, i removed the oil sending unit, got a call and forgot to screw in the oil pressure gauge fitting..started priming and had the same volcanic eruption
Whenever you see a post with words ""Ask me how I know this"" You now know how that came about. Lessons learned in this manner will stick with you forever >>>>.
Another thing to remember, when priming the oil system, is to put the oil filter on. Either that, or have a big bag of kitty litter close by... As you get older (CRS) you have to actually make a checklist, so between naps, you can remember where you left off
Yes I have done the oil filter deal also. I didn't know about the plug as I took the block to get hot tanked and the machine shop took it out. This is the reason why I primed the engine before getting it ****oned up. I look at it as when you get younger you seem to forget what you have learned and then when you get real young, people have to look after you and change your diapers. Where is the turning point where you start getting younger is the question.
What is the arrow pointing at the 'oil galley plug' pointing at? Is it under the casting that I need to check?
It's pointing at the hole at the back of the left side lifter gallery. This is where ths small npt plug goes that he forgot. I always drill it .050 to oil the distributor gear on the intermediate shaft.
Just to clarify, this internal plug is usually accessed throught the back of the block. Big hands are a detriment when working inside the valley. Many shops do not remove the internal plug and thus fail to get a through cleaning job in the lifter galley. .
Here's another picture of the back. The hole on the left is just a cover hole to access the actual galley plug which is in front of the distributor/intermediate shaft bushing. P.S. If any of the other bosses are drilled out, they must all be tapped and plugged before you hook up the ******. Here's where the holes end up on the front of the engine. They get blocked off by the cam thrust plate, and most people do not put rubber grommets in here, as any oil leak will be benefitial to the timing gears. P.S. This is my Dodge 270 block.
I was thinking about drilling the .030 hole but when I checked out how no wear was on the gears, I thought it was a moog point. Well no work today on the Hemi as I have house chores to do. I had to trim out a garden window that I totally forgot to do last year!! Ooops. Anyway its done so my wife had a bunch of decrepid wood bird houses that she needed nailed togeter and as I had my Impulse chordless finish gun out, I decided I'd fix her bird houses and maybe I'd get to play in her nest later. Just as I was finishing up, I shot a 2" nail "through" my middle finger tip and into the nail bed. It actually didn't go through the nail but dang does it hurt!!! Hey theres a heart in my finger as I can feel its heart beat!! Coooool....... Its actually feeling a bit better since I stated tying this. Oh the power of the HAMB!!! Maybe after dinner, I'll clean up the existing manifold and powder coat it, the water pump, some brackets, and the pullies.
So are you doing a stock type rebuild, maybe adding a cam or is this for some serious power? Just curious. Since we are talking oil here, you do know about replacing the stock oil byp*** valve with a full flow plug, right?
Some of the early engines do not have a removable valve, but rather, are finished just like an LA block for full flow. For those in the need, I still have a handfull of replacement valves for $8 ppd. .
My Desoto is a very early 52 and has the two piece tappet ***embly, a cup and hydrallic unit that slips into the cup. The weird thing is , my 1982 HD use the exact same hydraulic unit!!!
Heres a picture of the oil pump primer I made in about 2 minutes. This was the only extention harmed in the do***entation "priming the Hemi engine". All others are happy and doing well. The cool thing is that you can change the end for other applications. The extension also is the perfect fit for going through the bronze bushing. I greased it up a little before installing it on the oil pump.
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