Fellow listers....
Thanks to Bud, Jim, Larry, Don, and Ed for the response to my posting on
the trouble I was having on getting oil pressure in my freshly rebuilt MGA
1500. Particular thanks to George Merryweather who sent some excellent
advise directly to my email address. Since it wasn't sent to the whole list,
let me repeat George's words of wisdom (paraphrased)...
"Packing it with Lithium...wel, it's done, so we'll will move on from
there. The oil pressure line is not the place to put the oil! That is the
farthest place in the system from the oil pump, believe it or not. You need
to remove the big 1" nut holding the oil pipe. Loosen the other end of the
pipe, and get the pipe out of the way. The oil pump is at the end of this
hole. This is where you pour the oil. So, pour oil down the hole. Give it
15 seconds to run down, and then while you are still standing there, with the
car out of gear, etc., pull on the starter switch. Oil should start to surge
out of the hole. When it does, you got it. When you get oil, tighten it all
back and crank on it again. Be patient."
I followed George's instructions. The only perturbation arose when I
could not get the oil to surge out of the hole. I then gave a shot of
compressed air down this hole. After the compressed air, I pulled the
starter and immediately got oil surging out. Hooked everything up and ran
the starter and got oil pressure within 15 seconds or so. Then I put the
plugs back in, pulled the choke, turned the key, and within a few seconds the
engine started. I ran it for the 20 minutes at 2500 rpm for cam breakin and
then dropped the oil. I had 75 psi of oil pressure during the break-in run
at 2500 rpm.
After a year and a half of rebuilding, it was rather pleasant to hear
the engine I had never heard run before. I actually think I may have iton
the road in the near future.
Thanks for the help...
Joe Ratigan
58 Roadster
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