Engine pre oiler

[prezoom]

The lack of oil on the bearing surfaces, and other areas, after a vehicle has sat for a long period of time has always perplexed me. Pre-oiling, prior to start up in these situations seemed to be the smart thing to do. Then came time to have a look at an engine that had sat since 1974, or 28 years at the time of inspection. Removing the main and connecting rod bearing caps, found a significant amount of oil still remaining, with the bearings looking almost in new condition. There were two areas that remained in my concern. The cam followers and the engine bores. While the engine was upside down, a liberal mount of oil was applied to the camshaft and upon returning the engine to right side up, a small amount of oil was squirted through the spark plug hole. It took only a brief moment of cranking for oil pressure to appear on the pressure gauge. However, worn rings were the one of two things, along with valve guides that required renewal. The rest of the engine remains as it was prior to inspection.

[Slowtus]

Not to diminish the excellent information supplied here but was this a solution in search of a problem?

I used to absolutely thrash my Twin Cams, changed the oil far too infrequently - I operated on a "check and top up as needed" system back then and sometimes "forgot" to change the oil filter and would then leave the poor thing to sit in a draughty wet carport for far too long between drives.

Never once had an issue with wear/damage as a result.

As for changing to an electric fuel pump, did that a few times but I don't remember the time taken for the car to start as being significantly less.

[h20hamelan]

I too am guilty for not paying proper attention to regular oil changes. Unless they are turbo charged. My turbos, get cooled down (not at idle) after a spirited drive (as what other type of driving is there). Probably only because I use quality oil in the newer cars, and I dont actually care about a cheap new engine, as they are abundant in my profession. And vehicles tend to need clutch’s, oil seals etc. Some of the synthetics will go 10-15,000 miles. Also, they dont absorb moisture like conventional i believe.

I do however, take great care if an engine has been sitting more than a year. To add a full cylinder of automatic transmission fluid, prior to any rotation. As I figure it has enough detergents etc to free the rings and protect cylinder bores. I also add enough to the filler, in hopes it gets to the valves. Then, rotate by hand with plugs out. Change oil, and go.

Outside of this procedure. My initial question about pre oilers. Was specifically to see if there were benefits. Sounds like I will buy some more seeds or bulbs for the garden instead.

[2cams70]

Just a comment regarding the later 120E blocks and all others with the press in rather than screw in pickup pipe. You absolutely MUST ensure there is a tight fit of the pipe in it's location in the block. It almost invariably loses the interference fit after several removal and installations.

If there are any air leaks here you will get slow buildup of oil pressure because the pump will suck air in preference to oil. In particularly bad cases I have pulled down engines with destroyed bearings caused by this.

Use some Loctite 641 in this location even for pipes that fit well. Works great here and will seal the fit even on very loose pipes. Furthermore it's a removable grade of Loctite. Gentle and firm wriggling will still remove the pipe without having to resort to applying heat.

[rgh0]

Thanks, yes. Well, er no.

"one of the reasons I build my race engines using early 120E blocks" Interesting. Could we/I ask what the other reasons for the 120E choice?

Apart from the screw in central pick up the other reasons are

1. They were available very cheaply ( A$100) from wreckers as complete old and non running cortina or anglia engines with 4 bolt cranks here in Australia up to about 10 years ago. I bought myself a life time stock of about 12 blocks to support my engine building hobby when I needed a new block as a basis ! Much cheaper then than L blocks or the later blocks / engines with the 6 bolt cranks or the new blocks you can get now. Unfortunately they have all disappeared from wreckers now. in Australia though I am sure some must still exist in the UK given the numbers made and sold there.

2. The early blocks had greater variation in bore wall thickness compared to the later blocks based on doing wall thickness checks on over 50 blocks now and a higher proportion can end up with a good thick wall after boring to 83.5 for a 1598 cc competition engine.

cheers
Rohan

[Rob_LaMoreaux]

The reason I added the accusump is the reason I have the Stromberg engine that came with my car in the garage. I forgot to add an extra quart before an autocross school and the right hand skid pad uncovered the oil pickup. My car came in boxes and there were at least two of each type of pump so went with the screw on filter pump on that engine. The weber engine I bought had the screw on pump and I added the sandwich plate. The pumps are easy to change and the screw on was readily available 20 years ago when I restored the car.

Rob