What do you PRE-OIL with?

[e-tek]

Rebuilt my 318 and about to run it up - can't find a tool to pre-oil it. Am I relegated to finding a distributor cam gear in a wrecking yard??? Does Melling sell them? Will a big Hex key work?

[femtnmax]

Maybe there's a nice tool out there.  I did the wrecking yard route.  Took old distributor oil pump drive, ground off all the teeth and a little more.  Took a long bolt, ground the head into a flat that fits into the distributor slot in the oil drive.   Chuck the bolt into your 1/2 inch drill and away you go.  Use the vacuum advance location on the distributor to determine the direction of rotation of the distributor shaft.   This home made creation has served me well since 1976.

At the dealership I used to work at, we just took all the spark plugs out, grounded the coil wire, and cranked over the engine.  This primed the oil sytem and filled the carb with fuel.   Of course few of these were high end engines, mostly just mom and the kids types.  Better lube the cam lobes real well to do it this way with today's high lift cams.

[e-tek]

Thx for that. Mine is just a rebuild of the stock engine: timing chain, rings and gaskets only. But I have it on a test stand and wanted to run it up/tune it before plunking it in the car. I did the crank over with plugs out, but couldn't see oil in oil pressure line I hooked up (after about 15-20sec) and stopped. The book "How to rebuild your Small Blcok Mopar Engine" say what you did: pull plugs and coil wire and crank it over a while - but it also says you should have oil pressure right away...I think I'll either get a dizzy gear as you did, or grind down something else to match the gear I have. It's still winter here and hard to get into wreckers!

[LAA66]

  The ignition key has worked for me on many a motor without a problem. I do fill the filter and top off the last quart of oil over the valve train right before start up though. Just my experience though so don't reley as gospel.

 As for using the priming rod doesn't the cam need to be aligned right to get oil to the heads.

[73EStroker]

Be careful with the welding of round stock to the hex key. Two different materials makes for a brittle weld. May break off in the engine - pain to get out. Better to get a piece of hexagonal stock from the local parts store about 12" long (measure to make sure) then put that straight into the drill chuck.

[e-tek]

  The ignition key has worked for me on many a motor without a problem. I do fill the filter and top off the last quart of oil over the valve train right before start up though. Just my experience though so don't reley as gospel.

 As for using the priming rod doesn't the cam need to be aligned right to get oil to the heads.

Well, this is where I'm headed....I tried to get the distributor/cam gear out but no go. It wound in the gears and new bearing pretty good. I've already cranked the engine looking for spark (damn ECU & BALLAST needed on an engine stand!) and it's just a 40 year old 318....so on Saturday I'll pull the plugs once more, crank away, then put em back and fire it up.
BTW - how much fuel does it take to prime a Thermoquad? That thing is huge and DRY after the rebuild!

[Bullitt-]

I've had to crank quite a while to get my T/Q filled, I've learned to just dump a little gas down the throat to get her to fire up after going dry....  Any cold start will require 6+ pedal pumps to prime for start.. my experience anyway.

[moper]

With today's oil issues, you DO NOT want to use the key to pre-oil. Not to me tion, the starter and wiring are not designed for extended operation... They are not meant to turn the engine for minutes. I used an old pushrod and an old drive with the gear end cut off. I've used it on RBs and LAs for years, cost me a six pack to a buddy with a welder at the time. Thee longer the engine is turned, the less likely any break in lube will remain on the lifter face or lobe. So I try to turn the engine as little as possible. I have  arun in stand, and I prefill the carb, preoil with a drill and socket/breaker bar until the oil hits both sets of rockers. Then drop in the distrributor and fire it. Do not use the starter to get the fuel system primed, and do not use it to pre-oil the fresh engine.

[Moparal]

I usually prime the pump before installing, all the bearings are pre lubed with molly lube, install the lube on the cam, then before I have the valve covers on, I use my home made priming tool. It is 18 inches long or so. I have a distributor drive welded on both ends of an aluminum shaft. Had it for about 20 yrs and has never failed. The only thing I do different then mentioned is that I align my cam bearin hole up to the first oil hole that goes to one bank of the rockers, then turn the engine over by hand to get the second hole lined up. This primes the whole engine without loosing all the cam breaking lube. Then I start the engine on basic close timing, bring the idle up to around 2k or so untill the engine gets hot for 15 or 20 minutes. Then I turn it off and let set over night till the next day. Hadn't lost a cam or any engine failure as of to this day