Dammakins

BlowAMouse

Lifters in backwards? T-bar should be facing towards the inside of the motor. (sorry I assumed a hydro-roller cam)
How much oil pressure does you gauge read? IE do you have a mechanical gauge hooked up?
Drill motors tend to not spin the pump fast enough, also are you using an old dizzy or a designed oil pump primer?
The o-ring part at the bottom of the dizzy is what helps build pressure to the top of the motor.

I use an old dizzy with the gear taken off, I can get 40 psi with an electric drill (not battery)

hope it helps

HeadsU.P.

First, Automatic Trans Fluid is a cleanser. Why are you cleaning brand new parts? Should have soaked the lifters in motor oil.

Second, what type of primer are you spinning with your drill? If it does not have the "collar" on the primer shaft that seals into the intake, you may not build up enough pressure. (The collar looks like the part on the distributor that is locked down with the dizzy clamp)

It takes quite a while to build up pressure to the rockerarms. Even up to 20 mins. You have to have a good 3/8 or better drill with lots of torque. Every so many minutes, rotate the crank 90* by hand and continue priming.

There was a similar post like yours earlier, no pressure. Reason: cheap primer tool with no collar.

GOSFAST

You need to list the parts (by numbers) that you are working with, makes for a more accurate answer to your question!

You also need some sort of tool that includes a "body" to complete the oiling system, best one is an old modified distributor housing!

On roller builds (hyd or solid / SB's or BB's) we recently began modifying ALL Chevy blocks inside the lifter bores whether it's needed or not to help get oil up to the top at ALL times regardless of the lifter position (this includes at "max" lift on the lobe).

(Add) Based on the info just above here you should also be getting oil up to the rockers WITHOUT having to rotate the crank, all 16 should get oil with no crank rotation.

Thanks, Gary in N.Y.

P.S. You should NOT need any drill to prime most conventional early units, we always prime our builds as short blocks first, then with the heads/rockers in place and adjusted. An old-fashioned speed-handle gets it done for us, can't recall the last time we used a drill motor for a priming tool??

cv67

w/heads up
If youre building oil pressure put it together and fire it up then look. Bet its fine
Bearings probably have oil which is good. Pour some on the rockers/springs and fire it up.
Endles priming just washes the assy lube off

Dammakins

Dammakins

Hi Gary,

Below are the names and part numbers for this rebuild:
Comp Cams Extreme Enegery Camshaft - 11-432-8
Com Cams High Energy Push Rods - 7815-16
Comp Cams Hydraulic Roller Lifters - 854-16

The drill we are using has the "collar" that other posters have mentioned. It was used the other week on my co-workers 1967 GTO motor rebuild and built pressure with success.

I did speak with my rebuilder this AM who stated we needed to drill for at least 5 minutes continuously until we see something happen. In truth, we only drilled continuously for around 2 minutes straight as that was how long it took for my co-workers 400 Pontiac motor to start peeing. Since mine didn't do it in that allotted time frame I assumed something was wrong. He's using regular Hydraulic flat tappets vs the hydraulic rollers that I went with.

Thanks,


Alex

GOSFAST

Hi Alex, those particular lifters from Comp work really well, BUT, they are one of the brands that shuts the oil supply off to the rockers when at max lobe lift. This was one of the reasons we began modifying ALL the blocks some years ago. We even modify the aftermarket race blocks nowadays when they are destined to have a retro-hyd roller build.

Crane is another we found with a similar issue. On these and Comp's we simply modify the lifter bodies (photo below, that is a solid, but the mod is the same) if the block isn't done.

(Add) Most roller builds here also no longer need any cam buttons, this eliminates the need for end-play checking! Would have recommended using the specs found on the 11-451-8 for add'l lift as opposed to the 11-432-8, on a streeter!

Thanks, Gary in N.Y.

P.S. Not sure you ordered a "kit" or not but you might want to toss those pushrods, absolutely no welded-ball tip pushrods in any builds anymore, whatsoever. You are also more than likely going to need a different length (maybe) than the ones you show above!

HeadsU.P.

I wouldn't want any ATF on any part I was going to break-in. It was an old wives tail that if you had a noisy Hyd lifter then add ATF into the oil, run it & then drain. Supposedly it "cleaned" whatever was clattering in the Hyd lifter. Its a cleanser more than a lube. If it were mine, I would pull the lifters, clean and oil before something goes horribly wrong. Even though they are roller lifters, the cam lobes will still take a beating with ATF.
As a last resort, pull the valvecovers and dump some oil down through the heads and into the lifter valley. Extra Qt won't hurt anything for break-in.

drwet

When I assembled my motor with (Howards) hydraulic roller lifters it took about 5 minutes of spinning the oil pump to get oil out of the lifters. Even then not all of them were getting oil. I figured this was because some of the lifters were not lined up with the oil passages in the block. I rotated the engine and got most of them to deliver oil. I also share the concerns of others with respect to using ATF. Makes no sense to me. ATF is not an appropriate lubricant for the engine. They should be lubricated with engine oil or assembly lube. As an aside, Howards specifically states in their instructions NOT to soak the lifters in oil prior to assembly. However, I would follow the specific manufacturer's recommendations.

Dammakins

Hi Gary,

Thanks for the help! I was going to order the kit but my machinist recommended getting a timing chain with a Torrington Bearing and the timing chain in the Comp Cams kit did not have that included. We ordered all the parts individually and the pushrods were the same ones that would have been included in the kit. We did install a cam button.

Thanks,


Alex

Dammakins

Sounds like everyone is on the no ATF train. Ok - I'll pull the lifters tonight, clean them out with a microfiber and then soak them in the break-in I've put in.

HeadsU.P.

Endless priming washes off the assembly lube? Never heard that one. There's not enough pressure built up using an electric drill to wash anything.
The whole idea of priming is to ensure that an oil galley, lifter or pushrod is not plugged up with shop towel debris and that no place on the engine is bone dry.
That's something a brand new engine owner would never know, never see while running it with the valvecovers on staring at a oil press gauge.

The first few minutes of break-in is critical. Its either do or die for the bearings, cam lobes, lifters and rocker arms, etc.

wcsinx

This

GM didn't prime ****.

HeadsU.P.

But they had a free replacement standing by. Do you?

jb78L-82

This is correct^^^^^^^. GM did not prime crap when the flat tappet engines were installed on the line and then fired with zero breakin to drive off the line. The breakin was fire it up and drive it away, I bet, at a considerable clip as well.

Coat the lifters in oil, prime the engine with a drill (and NO it should not take more than a minute or so for pressure to the rockers), get it to fire on the first crank with breakin oil, rev it to 1,800-2,200 RPM for 20- 30 minutes, change the oil to conventional oil, take it for a ride with 4th gear full throttle pulls from 2,000-4,000 RPM (to seat the rings), drive it relatively easy for 500 miles, change the oil to a synthetic (my choice), and go for broke.....I was absolutely astounded at how complicated so many little things were made by some on the forum and when i actually did my rebuild, I was like WTF are these guys talking about. My favorite was the roller cam walking if not setup correctly and the measuring the pushrods for the roller cam (this one was my all time favorite) since the various techniques for measuring the pushrod length and observing the movement over the valve stem reminded me of a physicist doing precise calculation to get the rover to Mars. The disagreement amongst the fueding parties was comical. Like most things in LIFE use the KISS principle and you will be good to go. Let's stop the nonsense!

I am just completing my 5th driving season with my L-82 355 and all is perfect with the engine.......A gen 1 SBC is a VERY simple design with a retro roller cam being one of the more "complicated" upgrades which is really quite easy with a cam button/double roller timing chain against the standard OEM timing cover which is DIRECTLY against the solid metal water pump housing. There is zero chance that my roller cam will walk in my lifetime.......

drwet

The only reason to use a Torrington bearing is if you are using a billet steel timing gear. The billet gear will wear into the cast iron block. If you aren't using the billet gear, the bearing is just one more thing that can fail.

cv67

None of them came with accusumps?
Priming isnt bad but some take it waaay too far. Most times theres no need.
That oil pump spins so fast when it catches it gets oil right now.

jb78L-82

Give the man a cigar...correct again! Priming is insurance..that is it.

HeadsU.P.

That is true. But you are still missing the point. You could have a gusher of oil to all the main bearings, all the cam and rod bearings and all 15 lifters / pushrods / rocker arms.
Oh! Wait. Number 16 didn't get any oil. Passageway in the block plugged? H-m-m-m-m-. Not good. If I only I had primed and watched the rockers for signs.