The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 235 rebuild - need to prime oil pump?

Hello all....I'm new to the Forum (as you can see) and look forward to working with you all on various engine issues in the days to come. I have great grandpa's 1/2 ton 1953, which has a "full pressure" 1954 235 engine. I have spent the last two weeks pulling, dissassembling, and now, reassembling the engine for rebuild. Certaini various resources talk about the need to "prime" the oil pump....i.e., turn the oil pump manually before I actually try and crank the engine. Anyone have any insight on this ? It is necessary ? How would I do it ? I've oiled everything up real well when re-installiing the guts of this thing already..Thanks

Hopefully others will chime in with opinions but I think it is something that you need to do. Need to get that oil in all the passages in the block and head. I used an old distrib. with the guts removed except for the shaft. Stick it in the dist hole with the tab in the slot in the pump, put a drill on it and spin it until oil comes out of the oil feed tube on the rocker arm. Get that oil coming out of every place on the rocker arm it can come out of. Run it for a few minutes to get the air out of the system and filter.
Don

You're at a critical stage in the rebuild process and if you click on the "search" feature under the "post new topic" and "Post reply" headings and type in "Priming oil pump" you'll get a bunch of various info on the priming process.

It can't be stressed enough that your engine needs to be properly pre-oiled manually with the pump spun. Your assembly lube will help but getting oil to the entire engine will determine how long your engine will last. This is especially true if you added a new flat tappet cam. The run-in procedure is critical once you get your engine initially cranked so everything needs to be ready to follow the run-in procedure (do search).

The key to having a good run-in on a rebuilt is dependent on you having your pre-oiling with proper lubricants, timing set, a steady fuel source, adequate cooling and your engine electrical all working in concert, so your engine can run for 15-20 minutes at a fast idle.

If you take the time to dig up all this info now you'll reduce your chances for an unhappy ending to your Stovebolt adventure. Hope this helps you get started on your "pre-start" checklist.

Dave

Clockwise or counter clockwise????? :confused:

55 1st suburban,

Clockwise....it's driven by the distributor shaft.

Stuart

i used a long flat head screw driver...cut the handle off it, put the shaft in your drill..quick n simple......

With the screwdriver you've just got to be a little careful to get the blade in the pump drive slot and apply enough pressure so it doesn't jump out and nick the distributor drive gear on the cam.

If you're running a can filter with element, be sure to fill it with oil...let the element get completely soaked before you put on the lid. If you neglect to do this before the initial crank you'll bleed off oil pressure while the can fills. Spinning the pump alone will take some time to fill the cannister so filling it manually is going to work to your advantage. Hope this helps.

Dave

When you are spinning the oil pump, manually bar over the crank a couple of times to make sure oil reaches the all the rod bearings.