Topic: Did synthetic kill my rebuilt engine?

[dirtchicken]

Pull the fuel pump fuse and crank the engine over to get oil in the top end. Reinstall fuel pump fuse and start the truck.

[*ROKTOY*]

Yea, don't forget to take out the sparkplugs before cranking, to reduce the load on the bearings from compression.

[Zoomschwortz [OP]]

ok so lets say I'm going to prelube before stating it up. I have no preube pump. and i guess i could use an oil can and pump it up on the oil pump side so it gose through the filter first. any idea's???

One way that I have prelubed engines that had oil pumps NOT driven by the distributer, is to take some large pipe and reduce it down so it will thread into the location on the block where the oil pressure sensor threads in, fill the pipe with oil, screw the cap on and connect the air compressor to it.

I used around 30lbs of air pressure. The larger the pipe, the fewer times you need to refill it. I repeat this until the engine is filled to the correct level.

HINT: try not to let it run dry or you will get air into the system and displace the oil from the engine parts.

I try to keep turning the engine over to a minimum since it can displace the assembly lube before the engine is started. By pressurizing the system as described above, I'm sure that some of the assembly lube is displaced, but at least it is oil displacing it and not friction. Does this really make any difference? I can't say for sure, but I feel better knowing that I have had pressurized oil going through my engine before starting it.

On the distributer driven oil pump engines that I have built, I always felt better when I could turn the oil pump over with a drill motor and see 30-50 lbs of pressure on the oil pressure gauge for a couple minutes before I ever turned the engine over.

[Zoomschwortz [OP]]

When you send your block to the machine shop you should remove all the plugs, oil and coolant. When all the work is complete you should bring it home and wash it with hot water and a good decreasing soap like castrol super clean. You should also have a good set of engine cleaning brushes and run them through all the oil passages, not just the block but the crank and head if any work was done to them. Then blow dry and coat with a rust preservative if not going to assemble right away. The reason you do this is obvious, all that cutting and grinding done in the machining process leaves debris. The machine shop does not clean the parts after their work, at least not very well. If you think because you had it hot tanked it will be clean think again they hot tank before they start the work.

Very sound advice.
I'd like to add: Use the hottest water you can when you clean the block and when you are done cleaning, Clean it again.

When you are done cleaning the block, soak WHITE paper towels in automatic transmission fluid and scrub the bores over and over again until the towels no longer change color. ATF is a great cleaner and it will protect from rust too. After you are done cleaning the bores like this, then do the mains and rods the same way.

[RN37DD]

I used wd40 and white paper towls. It realy got the bores clean but i agree that Atf would protect it from rust better. I plan on starting it up soon so it shouldn't be a problem. I'm waiting on oversized valves for the 20R  head and i'm going to laugh if they look like they're going to hit. They won't but i'll check anyway.

[RN37DD]

And prelubing the engine sounds like the way to go too. think i'll just spin it over with no plugs or fuel until it reads good oil pressure. throw in the plugs, give it some gas run it up to brake in the cam.