Our LRDG Chev

[Mike K]

I agree with Rick. You need more than 15 seconds to get the oil up to the rockers . Before you give the engine another run, you could try priming the oil system with a external pump , doing this will circulate the oil around to all of the moving parts

[motto (RIP)]

No need for an external pump, simply remove the distributor and with a blade type screwdriver bit in an electric drill spin the pump. You can run it as long as you like, it will do no harm. I always do this before starting an engine after rebuild. You can feel the difference in torque when the pump primes and oil pressure comes up. It's good to know you will have oil pressure immediately when you do start the engine.

David

[Bob Carriere]

With a good 3/8 drill you can get pressure up to 40 lbs on a 235 or 261....not sure what reading you can get with a 216.

Once you have suitable oil pressure with the drill you can also spin the engine with the starter.... removing the plugs will get you some decent rpm......... and loosen up everthing before the first firing....

Waiting for the video of your first run....

Cheers

[Andrew H.]

Hi everyone,
Thanks Rick, Yes we have checked that the small oil pipe is connected correctly and has no blockages. Thanks David, - yes we will try the electric drill idea before the next start.
Andrew

[Andrew H.]

A quick update:

(i) Yesterday we used the electric drill in the distributor hole as suggested and got the oil to come out of the rocker holes, but only just - it just seeped out of a few holes but didn't spurt out. Is that what should happen? We don't want to run the engine for more than a few seconds until we are sure about this.

(ii) Can anyone post a pic showing how the throttle linkages go together on our kind of RHD Chev? All the Google pics show only LHD linkages, which are completely different. One of the linkages crosses from the accelerator pedal behind the engine to link up with the carby, but we cannot see where it fits or what it should be attached to (maybe the firewall?) We didn't take enough photos and now cannot remember.

[Lynn Eades]

Andrew the oil supplied to the rocker gear is at reduced pressure, if I recall, regulated by a cut out or cut outs in a cam bearing surface. As long as you are getting some to each rocker it will be fine. It runs down the rockers and lubes the valve stems and the push rods and cam followers also.
When you have it running you can check it with the cover off.
It is probably a good idea to run along the rockers with the oil can before starting if they look a bit dry. some rockers will move sideways to get a bit of oil into the bearing surface (hopefully they were lubed on assembly)

[Andrew H.]

Thanks Lyn,
Thats reassuring to know. We don't know what psi we were getting up to with the drill, as the pressure guage is not working properly.