I don’t want to start over, but

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Spadman

Spadman

72 and still learning
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I’m checking for oil with the drill for my first time. Intake is still off so I can see easily where the engine is stroke wise and I planned to put more cam lube on after all the test turning is done. The machine shop cleaned, honed and installed cam bearings. From there it’s my responsibility and I did not check the cam bearing hole alignment.

That said I’ve got Lucas 30 weight break in oil in it and it’s cold in the garage. I got up to 90 lbs oil pressure according to how fast I spun the drill. It would hold 50 barely turning. I had no help to turn the crank so set it to 90 degrees btdc on compression stroke. No oil to passenger side head. Tried a few degrees either way but did not find oil. Worrisome part is I saw no oil anywhere! Shouldn’t I have seen oil around the lifters? Worried.

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SSG_Karg said:
Best to get a helper to rotate crankshaft while you run the drill.

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Agreed, but snowed in right now. What I was surprised by was no oil coming out around the lifters. I know there’s pressure to the oil gallery on that side at least because the gauge port goes right into it. Just surprised and worried.
 
Truthfully, we've found from other members experiences that there really is no consensus to what we thought about camshaft oil timing. Some got oil by my post above, while others did not. So as mentioned, it's best to have two people. One stays on the drill while the other turns the crank and waits a few minutes.
 
I have never had to run a drill. I have always used just a 3/8" ratchet on hex rod. Put a torque wrench on your damper bolt and move the crank a few degrees. Turn ratchet looking for oil, verifying oil pressure. Move crank again. Repeat over and over and over again. You will eventually see oil rest assured.
 
I found our 340 was the same when priming. It wouldn't lube in the general consensus "area". I can't remember what the position was, but it's written down somewhere.
In reality it doesn't matter "where/when" lube happens as long as it does so on each bank. Keep trying, maybe 10* increments.
It'll happen, I was worried too lol.
 
If you are alone, drain the oil back out. Get a pipe adapter and adapt the 1/8 NPT female oil pressure sender port to 1/4 female and screw an air tool fitting in it to adapt your shop compressed air to it. Now you can turn the engine until you get air on each side and mark it.
 
Worry doesn't solve tomorrows problems, it just takes away todays peace.

Probably nothing wrong other than you haven't got tthe oil holes lined up yet. Relax
 
I don't remember for certain, but I THINK you can stuff a (brass not steel) rod clear down from the head to the cam hole. Again, use brass AKA uncoated brass brazing rod. If I remember right you can remove the rocker shaft, drop it down, make CERTAIN you are getting past the head and into the block, and make SURE the end is bend so it won't drop too far!!!! And then SLOWLY wrench the engine until the rod seems to drop. Then wiggle the crank a bit, probe a bit --if necesssary-- to get the holes aligned

A brass rod is not gonna hurt anything, just don't get wrench happy and "reef" on the thing, and REMOVE THE BATT GROUND when doing this
 
Don't mess around with a brass rod and taking rockers off. Just get a helper and turn it over with drill running
 
I've done it alone. clamp a 2x4 vertical to the engine stand and then clamp the drill to that. Grab a hose clamp or a zip tie to hold down the drill trigger button.

Boom
There's your second helper, now you can slowly turn the motor over and check for oil.
 
67Dart273 said:
I don't remember for certain, but I THINK you can stuff a (brass not steel) rod clear down from the head to the cam hole. Again, use brass AKA uncoated brass brazing rod. If I remember right you can remove the rocker shaft, drop it down, make CERTAIN you are getting past the head and into the block, and make SURE the end is bend so it won't drop too far!!!! And then SLOWLY wrench the engine until the rod seems to drop. Then wiggle the crank a bit, probe a bit --if necesssary-- to get the holes aligned

A brass rod is not gonna hurt anything, just don't get wrench happy and "reef" on the thing, and REMOVE THE BATT GROUND when doing this
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I’m pretty sure the oil passage from the block comes into the rocker bolt hole at an angle so if this were attempted it would need to be something flexible. It snowed some more last night and 8 degrees out so I won’t ask a friend to come to me. I think 413’s advice is the best bet.
 
The cam turns half of the crank rotation. Even if you shut the drill off and turn the crank 45-90° you should eventually get oil up both sides.
 
I wasn't able to get oil to the passenger side on my 360. A wise man on a different forum said something along the lines of "I'm never surprised at the things people will do to avoid finishing a project".

I pressed on but my situation was a little different because I had looked at the cam bearings so I knew they were going to pass oil. In my case I did see oil at the lifters but it took a while to get it there.
 
It’s supposed to warm up to 18 degrees later today. I know that’s a heat wave to some of you guys but I’m not used to it. I have a propane furnace in the shop but I ran out the tank just before the snow two weeks ago and haven’t been able to get a fuel truck here. Anyway, I will try later today ten to fifteen degrees at a time.
toolmanmike said:
The cam turns half of the crank rotation. Even if you shut the drill off and turn the crank 45-90° you should eventually get oil up both sides.
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What oil do you have in it? If it’s 18* in your shop and you’re running a heavy weight oil make sure you have a good drill because she’s going to be working hard. And hang on tight! It may also hinder the flow of oil since it won’t be warming up in a running engine.
 
30 wt Lucas breaking oil. It’s a good drill with side handle but it feels
SSG_Karg said:
What oil do you have in it? If it’s 18* in your shop and you’re running a heavy weight oil make sure you have a good drill because she’s going to be working hard. And hang on tight! It may also hinder the flow of oil since it won’t be warming up in a running engine.
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like stirring molasses. That might be why no leaking around the lifters.
 
All is well. I turned the breaker bar with my left hand and worked the drill with my right. Had oil gushing on both sides quickly by turning about ten degrees at a time. Thanks all who encouraged and helped me.
 
Spadman said:
All is well. I turned the breaker bar with my left hand and worked the drill with my right. Had oil gushing on both sides quickly by turning about ten degrees at a time. Thanks all who encouraged and helped me.
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We expect burnouts soon!! :thumbsup:
 
It would be a while before burnouts because I have to wire and install the dash and seats buts it’s good to be able to button up the engine. I can hardly wait to drive it though!
 
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