The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 235 Starting Woes

So here's the story of how my first ever rebuild went last night.

The 235 is sitting in my 1959 truck. Everything is connected, fluids are filled, carb is primed. I figure I should give the oil pump one last spin. Pull out the dizzy, prime the system, and re-install.

My wife comes out to help. I ask her to press the stomp starter, and watch the gauges so I can watch the motor and adjust idle speed to 2k to break-in the cam.

Couple revolutions of the starter, and vroom, she starts right up. I'm overjoyed, and adjust the idle to 2200 rpms. My wife stands next to me, and asks why it's so noisy. I figure the valves need to be adjusted. I ask her how the gauges look, and she says, Should the Oil Pressure gauge be 0? UH NO, TURN IT OFF!

So it ran for ~30 seconds with no oil pressure.

I pull the dizzy, spin the pump with my drill and sure enough, oil pressure. I put the dizzy back in again, thinking I must not have set it in all the way.

Ask her to press the starter again, and VROOM, she starts right back up. Only this time with oil pressure.

Ran it at 2200-2400 rpms for 20 minutes to break in the cam. Everything seems to be running fine, I was amazed how much the motor smoothed out after ~10 minutes of running. The oil pressure gauge remained a little over half for the entire break-in, and the temp gauge never moved past 3/4.

I do have three questions:

Is there anything I should look for regarding no oil pressure damage?

500 miles for the first oil change OK?

What is the correct procedure to set the rings?

Thanks, Vince

I doubt you did any damage at all if it only ran for 30 seconds. 500 miles would be plenty soon enough for the oil change. I think you meant seat the rings. Don't drive at a constant speed for the first couple hundred miles. Also, run the car at fairly low rpm and hold the throttle wide open until you get up to 50 mph or so. Do this every so often and the rings should be seated. I can't really say how many times is necessary but if you do it more often it won't hurt anything.

Running with zero pressure didn't help it much, but if you did any real damage it would have shown up during the cam break-in run. I always confirm the presence of oil pressure before kicking the RPM up to cam breakin speed. I've found that an engine will run for some time on just the assembly lube, as long as no load is put on the bearings. Drive a new engine 50 feet with no oil pressure, and you can count on bearing damage!

Watch the oil pressure and listen for any expensive noises during the first few miles. An oil and filter change after 500 miles is a good idea- - - -not totally necessary, but the cost of a few quarts of oil and a filter is a drop in the bucket compared to what you've got invested in the engine buildup!

Ring seating- - -Perfect Circle used to reccomend 10 full-throttle accelerations in top gear from 30-50 mph. That procedure loads the compression rings against the cylinder walls with combustion pressure, which helps the rings establish a good running fit with the cylinders.
Jerry

Hey guys, thanks for the hope! It was a cool feeling knowing something I've been building for the last few weeks came alive, here's hoping there is no damage. I'm hoping to have the transmission in tonight, should be down the road tomorrow. Woo Hoo!