It may be overkill if you're doing your own work on your own car because if
you need to solve a problem, your labor is "free", but my opinion is that
it's a good thing to do. I've built quite a few TR engines for vintage
racers and for cars being restored. I always fill the whole system by
turning the pump over with a drill. You can do the same thing with a
crank-type spin-on wrench but by using an electric drill and 30 weight
startup oil, the speed of the drill will produce 50 to 60 psi. For cars
with oil coolers and sometimes remote oil filters and lots of hose
connections, I like to get the whole system full, check for leaks prior to
startup, and make sure that the pump is primed.
But then, I also run each engine on a test stand before giving it to the
customer. This is especially important to me since about half the engines I
build are installed by the owner, not me. I started running the engine on a
stand after I shipped an engine from my shop in Illinois to a customer in
Colorado. He had a massive oil leak at the rear of the engine, and I went
to Colorado and fixed it.
I've run into some really goofy things and saved myself and my customers
from a lot of grief by running each engine on a stand, and pressurizing the
system will uncover some but not all of these problems. For example, the
aftermarket rear seals don't work 100% of the time. Occasionally I have to
replace them (but since I've found out what to alter I've had a 100%
success rate). I had an engine that had a timing cover leak -- the pulley
seal was misidentified by the vendor. It had the right OD but an incorrect
ID. I didn't notice that there was no lip seal tension when I put the front
pulley on - one more thing to check. I particularly like the ability to run
in a new camshaft myself and retorque the head, something that customers
cannot be trusted to do, I've found out the hard way. Water pumps are
troublesome too and some are leaky, and rather than try to justify to a
customer a policy of replacing them all, I use the customer's present pump
and replace when necessary.
At 07:02 PM 7/30/2004, Paul Dorsey wrote:
>At VTR recently, I was told to prime a newly rebuilt engine by using a drill
>motor to spin the distributor shaft and temporairly produce oil pressure prior
>to starting the engine. I thought this sounded like overkill, is it?
>
>Thanks, Paul Dorsey
> 60 TR3A
uncle jack
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