Pre Oiler
 

Has anyone ever welded an air fitting to their oil filter canister. unscrew the inlet line and cap it, leaving the inlet line open. pressurize the canister to about 40 pounds and wait for the oil to come out the inlet line. (See drawing)

I have a friend with a zephyr engine that has been sitting a year, and I want to preoil before trying to fire it.

I know many recommender a weed sprayer, but I had this idea about the oil filter. Naturally I would have a rubber tube taking the oil into a container. This should oil things up before attempting to spin the engines.

Go ahead tell me it won't work, I can take it.

Re: Pre Oiler
 

If I understand your explanation this would just fill the pan. Because the oil filter is a bypass you would have to cap the line to the pan and the other line goes int the engine. On a ford I have removed oil pressure sensor and pumped oil into the engine with an electric fuel pump.

Re: Pre Oiler
 

You would have to pre-fill the filter, too, in addition to the changes Woody noted. They are normally (after sitting a while) only half -full at best.

More ideas here: http://www.btc-bci.com/~billben/preoil.htm

Re: Pre Oiler
 

The weed sprayer idea sounds interesting. My fresh build has been setting on the stand for two years and I am about ready to install and fire. I want to pre oil but as of yet not certian how to do that with out a big mess. Ideas????
Walter E

Re: Pre Oiler
 

No it will not work with a bypass filter. If the zephyr has 2 oil pressure outlets like the V8 remove one of the the plugs and install your pressure line and pump oil into the engine. If it's just got the oil pressure guage remove it and put the pressure line in that hole. Walt

Re: Pre Oiler
 

I made a pressure vessel that attaches to the top threaded hole at the rear of the block. It holds about two quarts of oil. It has a tubeless tire valve stem at the top for applying air pressure. This worked well on an early 21 stud engine I built.

On a 59 engine I built I just put oil in the engine and turned the engine by hand (spark plugs removed) until I saw a slight blip on the oil pressure gauge. Then I spun it with 12v using the starter until I saw about 30 psi.

Re: Pre Oiler
 

I recently prelubed 2 engines that had been sitting for years. One was a SBC and I was afraid the hydraulic lifters may have gone down and the push rods would jump loose. The other was a 5.7 diesel sitting in crate for 25 years that I was putting in my 78 GMC P/U I bought new. I used a paint pressure pot with a quart of oil in the pot (could be larger) and the pickup tube from the lid down into the oil. I drained the oil before starting and used the 2 quarts as part of the oil change. The hose to supply paint to spray gun was replaced with a short hose to the gauge sender port. You can use the air input gauge and regulator to adjust the oil pressure to the engine. These pots are not used much anymore and can be found cheap. As I stated many times I would not install any oil pump without testing it before installing it. Oil pumps rarely go bad. Most times it's the bypass valves in the later pumps or in the front of the valve valley that has a weak spring. These springs can easily be shimmed, do not stretch. As JM stated turning the engine with the plugs removed on 12 volts will give you the oil pressure you will see driving down the road. This can be done with the engine in the car or sitting on the floor. This along with a compression test and checking valve clearance will pretty well tell you the condition of an engine and how it will run and sound. This simple on the floor test will save a LOT of hair pulling problems discovered after installation. How many of these problems have we seen on this forum over the years?? G.M.