Prime oil pump?

[rudy]

Just filled the crankcase of my 1000 engine tonight in preparation for firing it up. Just wondering, since I did a full tear down, would I have to prime the oil pump? Not a huge fan of waiting for the oil to get through everywhere and maybe pump air for a while. I pulled the pressure switch out and poured a little in there til I could see it, didn't take much. Should be a bunch in the pump now as I saw air bubbles come up after turning the crank a few times before moving on to checking valve clearances.

Any ideas on this guys? I did a quick search, but didn't find anything. I know with my 650 I had a real fun time trying to get the oil to flow after I put it all back together. Just wondering if this would be the same.

[duaneage]

If you wetted the upper valvetrain down with oil I would just crank it for 10 seconds, let the battery and starter recover for a few minutes and then do it again. Do this with the crank trigger disconnected to the ignitor so it does not start.

That pump will shoot oil up PDQ

[bwringer]

Yeah, what Duanage said. Crank without starting until the oil light goes out, then reconnect the ignition and fire it up. The low-pressure oil system on the 8V engines doesn't take long to start moving the slippery stuff around.

[rapidray]

All the above except one more thing, REMOVE the spark plugs to spin the motor so it will spin FASTER & not drain the battery as much or heat up the starter. Ray.

[rudy]

All the above except one more thing, REMOVE the spark plugs to spin the motor so it will spin FASTER & not drain the battery as much or heat up the starter. Ray.

Good tip. I was planning to put my electric drill on the crank and just spin til the oil comes. I always pull the plugs when I crank the engine.

[Don-lo]

I always use assembly lube since the cam journals are aluminum. I've thought about putting a zerk or some inlet on the big 17mm oil gallery plug so I could force oil up into the journals. It would probably be more of a priority if there were plain main bearings.

[rudy]

I put everything together with Spectro Golden 4 20w50. Works pretty well as an assembly oil as it's really sticky. Has a little 80w90 gear oil in it as well. I'll likely pour a little oil in the top end before firing it up, just because.

[bwringer]

Sounds like you'll be fine. As long as the cam journals are pre-lubed with oil or a bit of assembly lube, it'll easily spin long enough to pump plenty of oil around. The rings and wrist pins were already lubed when you installed them.

I've been using this Permatex assembly lube lately -- it's a thick, blood-red goop, so it sticks really well, and it doesn't contain moly. I don't think you'd ever use enough moly assembly lube to hurt a clutch, but who knows. Maybe I just like the color.

I always make a point of filling up the various wells that collect oil in the cylinder head, too, just because.

Fire it up and make some noise!