Re starting engine after many years

Due to life getting in way, have not started the engine of my 56 140FHC since the 90’s. Have it on a test bed while doing body work.
Am wondering if there is a way to get oil pressure up without cranking. Have a friend who runs Ford and says he can run oil pump after pulling distributor and accessing there.
I imagine things are pretty dry in the crank.
Thanks

No, that won’t work because the pump and distributor are both driven off the crank, but there is a way - if you type ‘garden sprayer’ or pump sprayer in the search box you will find how. Also put some lube into the spark plug holes and start turning by hand of course

Like so. Welcome by the way
David

Dear David,

I was faced with the same issue about a year ago. I pulled the distributor and found it was a 2 piece distributor. With my sons help we found the correct hose fitting that was the correct size and thread pitch that fit into the oil galley. We also hooked up a manual oil pressure gauge in place of the oil pressure sending unit. We then loosened the bolts to the oil supply lines to the back of the cam shafts and started pumping the garden sprayer with about 3 quarts of oil. As a note we did use break in oil. We got oil coming out of the loosened cam shaft supply lines. We then tightened those up and pumped in rest of oil and cranked the motor over, without spark, and we got oil pressure on the manual gauge. What a moment. Had a couple of beers. What a way to prime a motor but super important.

Best of luck,
Alf

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I use the same technique as when starting a new engine, if priming the oil pump with a drill isn’t an option. I remove all the spark plugs so there’s no compression and turn the engine until the oil pressure gauge registers. Shouldn’t do any harm as there’s no load on anything, unless there are blockages or physical damage. Spraying oil in through holes will meet the same problems in an unknown engine. You might need to crank it for a surprisingly long time, but oil’s getting around from the start. Battery needs to be good, and a modern hi-torque starter helps.
Yes, if you pull the dizzy on a sbf you can run the oil pump with a hex drive on an electric drill. Just make sure you’re spinning it the right way.

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I filled the oil filter housing, and then took out one of the brass plugs which go into the oil gallery. I then made up a suitable threaded plug with a short length pipe connected to it, to screw into the gallery. This was then connected to the garden spray.
With this I managed to get oil up to the camshafts proving things were primed.
The gallery plug is a UNF thread. (1/2 inch I think).

Thanks David. Gives me a direction to follow.

we did a few and learnt our lesson on one
we would pour oil down the spark plugs turn over by hand, but found on one that a valve was seized and bent it so we then use to take cam covers off so we could check all the valves were working and not seized.

Hello Terry - question - why would you pour oil down the spark plug holes when priming oil path? - Tex Terry, II - 1991 XJS V12 Classic Coupe, 1986 XJS V12 Coupe - sent 9/20/2020 2054hrs. EDT USA.

lubricate inside of bores this is done prior to turning over by hand

Hello Terry - okay, that’s a new line of thought to me, since I would think that the compression rings, and oil rings, would supposedly keep the oil, placed through the spark plug hole, only on the top side of the piston rings, and not actually allow any oil to get to the bottom side of the rings, where the lubrication would be needed (I am not an experienced engine builder) - guess one can learn something new everyday - thanks, Tex Terry, II - 1991 XJS V12 Classic Coupe, 1986 XJS V12 Coupe - sent 9/20/2020 2158hrs. EDT USA.

Think about it, the bores are probably dry by now and you’re forcing a possibly slightly gummed up piston through that. The rings want a little oil -any oil, preferably something lighter so it seeps down- since the crosshatching is now dry and so are the top rings themselves. The engine is going to be turned over quite a few times. Also, oil will find its way down past the rings.
Looking at the followers so no valves get bent is good advice to follow.

Good luck Gordon
David

I’ve seen people put a little diesel down the bores and let it soak a day or two before turning the engine over. Couldn’t do any harm, I’m thinking.

Diesel down cylinders won’t do any harm, and is a good ring unsticker.

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To get back to the original question of how to pre-pressure the oil galley before starting, there are 2 ways:

  1. As was mentioned above, remove all of the spark plugs and turn the motor over with the starter. Oil pumps are positive displacement, so for all practical purposes, they are self priming. Crank in 5-10 second pulses until you have pressure.

  2. The main oil galley runs down the right side of the block, along the same centerline as the oil filter mount. The cross drilling from the galley to each main bearing is plugged with a 1/2“-20 fine thread bolt and copper washer. Have a spare bolt drilled and tapped for a grease fitting. Put oil in a grease gun and you can hand pump the galley up to any pressure you desire. Replace the plug after you have run the engine.

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Brilliant idea! I wonder if the zerk would endure oil pressure?

The zerk is a basically a ball check valve. Should hold well enough to accommodate engine oil pressure. We used them to shop test pump seal assemblies up to 3-400 psi using mineral oil. I’ll bet there’s a spec for the pressure rating. Most decent grease guns will pump up to 1000 psi.

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“Leakproof” style rated to 10,000 psi.

Zerk Grease Fittings, Straight, 1/8 PTF Male, 1" Overall Length

I used to use an oil-filled grease gun, with an extension hose, to fill difficult-to-reach gearboxes.

If ever I need to prime an oil system, Ill steal yer ideer!

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