priming the oil pump

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DaveW

DaveW

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I'm trying to prime the oil pump in my rebuilt 340 using a drill and priming rod, while rotating the crank by hand. I get no oil on driver's side, but have plenty of oil on the other side. Any idea's?
Thanks, Dave W.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Yeah I read it. I assumed he meant the driver's side rockers.
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I assumed he meant what he posted.
If he put in the front galley plugs and drove them in to deep he would block the flow to the drivers side. That I think is the only thing that would stop oil from reaching the drivers side. Can I get a Whoa Fabo?
 
RustyRatRod said:
No. If the camshaft is not aligned with the bearings, you will not get oil to the top either. It is only aligned once per side per revolution. If he doesn't have it in just the right place, he will not get oil.
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I'm not talking about the rocker arms getting oil I'm talking about what he asked why isn't he getting oil to the driver's side. Not why isn't he getting it to the driver side rockers because that's not what he asked for.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Ok, then what's your interpretation, Randall? Driver's side WHAT? Head? Either way, the oil has to come through the cam to get to the top. Right? Are you assuming he has the heads off? Even so, the camshaft still has to be lined up for oil to come out of the passage on the block deck. Right?
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I am not talking about oiling the top you are.
I'm talking about oiling the lifter Galley on the driver's side. I wish he would come back on and clarify what he was talking about.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Yes sir. I understand. But why would anyone prime an unassembled engine? That's why I made the assumption he had the heads and valve train on.
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He never said the engine was unassembled, you did. But he also never said it was assembled either.
 
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Jadaharabi said:
Did you put plugs in the oil galley holes in the front of the block under the cam retainer plate?
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More info : The engine was built a few years ago by an engine shop. The engine is in the car. I am looking at what is coming up to the rockers. Confirmed that the rockers are installed correctly : the rocker arm notch is toward the front of the car on the driver side and toward the back of the engine on the passenger side. Ran a small wire down the oil passage... it didn't go down easy... Thanks!!! Will check out the info provided later...
 
DaveW- do you happen to have an oil pressure mechanical gauge screwed in to the oil pressure hole (1/8” pipe thread to the right side of the distributor)?
This will let you know you have sufficient oil pressure. Remember how the oiling system works. The parts have to line up with a hole to pressurize the left and right (separately) bank. Hand turning over may not allways allow sufficient fill time. You may not have an issue but I understand your concern.
 
Notches "down and to the left " when hanging over a fender. FOR THE MOST PART! Not all "notches" are the same or oriented the same.
 
Pull the rockers and shaft off the dry side, prime, and slowly turn the engine over.
 
Syleng1 said:
DaveW- do you happen to have an oil pressure mechanical gauge screwed in to the oil pressure hole (1/8” pipe thread to the right side of the distributor)?
This will let you know you have sufficient oil pressure. Remember how the oiling system works. The parts have to line up with a hole to pressurize the left and right (separately) bank. Hand turning over may not allways allow sufficient fill time. You may not have an issue but I understand your concern.
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Yes, I have the sender for the ralley oil pressure gauge connected. But, I haven't checked the gauge to see what it is showing...
 
DaveW said:
Yes, I have the sender for the ralley oil pressure gauge connected. But, I haven't checked the gauge to see what it is showing...
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Do that. I always screw in a manual pressure gauge. You see them at swap meets like $5. It will tell you a lot. Typical battery powered drill will get the oil pressure up there pretty easy.

Side note. A replacement hand held grease gun line (flexible style) is also 1/8” pipe (npt) threads. It allows the gauge to move left or right some of you are standing off to the side or cannot see directly straight down. You will need a 1/8” pipe coupler to connect the gauge to the flex line. Good luck and keep us posted. Syleng1
 
If you cannot get anywhere, I would verify that cam oil hole is lining up. Cam bearing, etc. Take a piece of similar, brass brazing rod, and insert it down the dry oil hole, so that it can go down through the block. Remove the plugs and GENTLY turn the engine with socket on the crank bolt. At some point the rod should be able to drop into the cam. Be certain you don't get wrench happy and shear it off.

Years ago, someone on here had posted the crank degrees at which the two sides line up, but I don't remember, and never have done it that way.

Your drill should be laboring very heavily if pressure is building. You should be able to tell by feel.
 
Per 70aarcuda Tony Santos (RIP).

“On a small block:
Turn the motor to 90* before top dead center coming up on #1 compression. The pass. side rockers should get oil.
Turn the motor to 20* after top dead center just past #6 compression. The drivers side rockers should get oil.”
 
67Dart273 said:
If you cannot get anywhere, I would verify that cam oil hole is lining up. Cam bearing, etc. Take a piece of similar, brass brazing rod, and insert it down the dry oil hole, so that it can go down through the block. Remove the plugs and GENTLY turn the engine with socket on the crank bolt. At some point the rod should be able to drop into the cam. Be certain you don't get wrench happy and shear it off.

Years ago, someone on here had posted the crank degrees at which the two sides line up, but I don't remember, and never have done it that way.

Your drill should be laboring very heavily if pressure is building. You should be able to tell by feel.
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I removed the rockers on both sides and ran a small wire down the oil hole on each side after finding #1... the wire went down just over 4 inches on both sides. Not sure how far it should go? Thanks everyone...
 
DaveW said:
I removed the rockers on both sides and ran a small wire down the oil hole on each side after finding #1... the wire went down just over 4 inches on both sides. Not sure how far it should go? Thanks everyone...
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Read post #19. That tells you the correct engine timing to line up the oiling holes for the passenger and driver's side. Just over 4" is not going through the camshaft, because the holes are not lined up. If you time the engine according to post #19, you will be able to tell when the camshaft is lined up on each side, because the wire will go a good bit farther in.
 
You may have to take the head bolt out to get the wire to go down into the passage in the block. I had to do that while doing this very thing with my 273 a while back. It won't hurt a thing to take the head bolt out to run the wire down by hand. Just retorque it when you're done. If you send the wire down the hole to where it obviously stops at the cam, rotate the motor by hand and you will feel the wire drop like a rock when the oil hole in the cam lines up. I got worried because my cam was made on a Magnum blank. I called Bullet and they assured me that it had oil holes like an LA cam, but I wasn't gonna sleep good until I checked it myself. If you get the wire down farther after removing the head bolt and it doesn't drop into the cam oil hole after you rotate it, that cam bearing may be installed wrong.
 
I was just going to say, doesn't the oil go around a head bolt? There's the oil gallery plug that is in the back of the engine, drivers side, the one behind the outer plug, back of block, did that once, but it still got some oil up to the top. Yes, confirm that the rocker shaft oiling holes are down, no matter where the notch is. I have seen it both ways.
 
I installed a mechanical oil pressure gauge and it is showing 60 plus pounds of pressure using the drill to prim it. Still no oil to driver side.

Re: turn the motor to 20* after top dead center just past #6 compression. The drivers side rockers should get oil.
How many inches is 20 degrees?

A friend wondered if maybe the head gasket was installed incorrectly. Is that possible?

Thanks!!
 
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