SBC assembly & pre-oil issues/questions

I'm slowly making progress on getting the much-upgraded SBC in the El Camino back together- but I've run into what I think is a snag and can use some thoughts from those with much more experience with them than I had.

Basically, I'm at the pre-oil stage- the heads, lifters, rocker, etc. are all installed, and I've got a pre-oil tool (surprisingly, AutoZone has them in their loaner program...) and a good-sized drill running the oil pump to try and oil all of the valvetrain & rockers. The problem is that I'm just not getting oil to roughly half of the rockers no matter where crank is turned to- the majority of the driver's side ones are getting oil, but only one on the passenger side is getting a good flow of oil and only one more is getting any- the rest just don't seem to be getting any oil.

I pulled pushrods for the front two pistons' valves, and it looks like all of the lifters have at least a bit of oil coming from them but it's just not making it up the pushrods to the rockers.

So, a few questions:

Is this normal when pre-oiling an engine?

I'm using the hydraulic roller lifters from a 350 Vortec- I disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled the ones that are on the engine before installing them. Looking over one of the spares, I noted that the oil feed hole is only on one side- and I don't remember paying attention to which way I oriented them when I installed them. Could/would that make a difference? Do they all need to be facing one way, and if so, which way?

Also, somewhat related- I've had a hard time finding good instructions on tightening down the polylocks on the self-aligning roller rockers (I'm essentially using the full GM Performance Hot Cam setup). What's a good rule of thumb for that? Should you be able to spin the pushrods by hand when it's not lifting, or should it always be tight and not able to be moved?

Thanks!

I remember turning the polylok until you couldn't rotate the pushrod by hand easily, and then 1/4 turn more, then the setscrew.

As far as oiling, I don't recall, but I am pretty certain you're supposed to see oil out of every one. Perhaps the pump they lent you isn't building enough pressure, do you have a gausge on it?

The holes in the lifters don't matter which way they are, the oil passage goes around the lifter so it gets oil no matter what (Remember the old flat tappets spin around while running). It is ideal to get oil to all rockers while priming, but I have seen quite a few that didn't and they ran just fine. Sometimes it takes running the engine to get all the air out of the lifters. Just keep an eye on the engine during break in for any odd noises. You should be fine. BTW do did make sure the pushrods are clear, no blockage? You probably did but it never hurts to make sure.

81cpcamaro wrote: The holes in the lifters don't matter which way they are, the oil passage goes around the lifter so it gets oil no matter what (Remember the old flat tappets spin around while running). It is ideal to get oil to all rockers while priming, but I have seen quite a few that didn't and they ran just fine. Sometimes it takes running the engine to get all the air out of the lifters. Just keep an eye on the engine during break in for any odd noises. You should be fine. BTW do did make sure the pushrods are clear, no blockage? You probably did but it never hurts to make sure.

Good point on the flat tappet lifters- I figured the orientation shouldn't matter, but since the rollers are locked and can't turn I figured I should check.

I cleaned the pushrods as well- soaked them in degreaser, cleaned them off, blasted WD-40 through them to make sure they were clear, and stored them in a ziploc bag with oil in it to keep them clean/oiled until I installed them. The pushrods I pulled to check it had some oil up in them (I blew on the top end to see if there was any in them, and it came out the bottom hole) so I'm guessing it just didn't build up enough pressure.

On tightening the polylocks, when I initially tightened them down I used almost exactly the method tuna outlined- but found that after a few turns of the crank trying to get the lifters to oil that many of them were loose again so I wondered if I should just leave them set there or tighten them some more again.

For setting valve lash on hydraulic lifters first make sure the valve you're working on is on the base circle of the cam, not in any type of lift. Twist the push rod with your finger while tightening down the nut until you feel resistance. Now you're at zero lash, give it another 1/2 turn. Good idea to check pushrod length while you're doing this.

Or you can set it doing the engine running method.....you won't like the engine running method.

I just went through this (again) on dad's Tahoe engine. It took almost 40 minutes of use with a big Makita drill to get oil out of all the lifters.Once we got oil on about half, we started having one person slowly turn the crank with the breaker bar while the other ran the drill.

When I think back on it, it took about 30 minutes to get the 'vette's engine primed as well.

Bobzilla wrote: I just went through this (again) on dad's Tahoe engine. It took almost 40 minutes of use with a big Makita drill to get oil out of all the lifters.Once we got oil on about half, we started having one person slowly turn the crank with the breaker bar while the other ran the drill. When I think back on it, it took about 30 minutes to get the 'vette's engine primed as well.

I thought about doing something like this too, though SWMBO might not be the most amused at being asked to do either of the needed tasks. :P That is one issue that I have- even with the larger 6 Amp 1/2" drive HF drill I can't run it continuously for more than 3-4 minutes before it starts to get hot and act weird. I've debated renting a bigger drill from Home Depot for a few hours...

do it. I burned up a HP drill the first time around with the vette. It takes some time, a lot of spinning and patience.

Rented a bigger drill- a Makita DS4000, which is actually a mixing drill- and took it out to try and get the heads to pre-oil properly. The Makita did MUCH better at running for long times on end, and the driver's side head is now oiling pretty much properly. The passenger side though is just not getting much of any oil still. I'm thinking that is because the DS4000 only runs up to 500RPM and sits there constantly. It's a 9A motor so it didn't even blink at spinning the pump, but was only building up about 40psi according to my oil pressure gage.

Doing some more searching around, it seems that passenger side heads on SBCs not pre-oiling properly is fairly common but they do just fine with the engine actually running. So I'm thinking I'll go ahead with the rest of the assembly, coat the rockers in oil before starting it, and just keep a close eye on it to make sure it's getting oil like it should.

As long as you have some oil coming up the pusherods, you'll be fine. The main issue is to get the majority of the air out of the system before startup. If you're really worried, put a dab of assembly lube on top of the valve for extra protection.

they never prelubed them at the factory- and they built a LOT of them there...

all ive ever done is run the drill until it builds good pressure, then maintain that pressure for a little while. if i'm feeling ambitious, i might rotate the engine one turn and repeat it.. then stab the distributor and fire it up. the lifters might clatter for a few seconds, but the oil will get to where it needs to be pretty quickly.

you really don't need all that much oil to get to the top of the engine with the roller cam and roller lifters, anyways, since the biggest friction points- the pivots on the rocker arms- has been replaced with low friction needle bearings.

This is why you prime the lifters before you install. place them a coffee can, fill ~1/2 inch over the tops them use a push rod and push down on the lifter to pump the oil in and gat the air out. To late now just keep priming

Just did this on my V8 powered Fiero that has sat longer than I wanted it to........took about 20 mins with the drill to get oil coming up on all pass side pushrods. I presume the driver's side was okay -- not taking that valve cover off since it is up against the Fiero firewall. I have an old old dewalt drill that I use for this. Just as I'm done the drill starts smoking......still runs like a champ. Sounds like it has rocks rolling around inside, but it still runs

44Dwarf wrote: This is why you prime the lifters before you install. place them a coffee can, fill ~1/2 inch over the tops them use a push rod and push down on the lifter to pump the oil in and gat the air out. To late now just keep priming

I actually did that initially, but they sat around (in the oil) for a while before I could get to installing them and I didn't to it again. I COULD pull everything apart and do it again, but it sounds like that's not really wholly necessary. I'll just make sure they're lubed initially when I start it up and be checking it to make sure they're getting oil while it's running.

I have assembled many SBC motors and never pre oiled them. Liberal amounts of assembly lube during assembly. I then would crank it until it has OP with the fuel and ignition disconnected. Once I see OP add spark and fuel and off you go.