Topic: Pre-luber idea

[Don R]

I was talking to a mechanic friend about starting my 750 for the first time after doing some work to it over the past year. I mentioned pouring some oil into the galley where the aftermarket pressuer gauge goes. He loaned me a tank used to flush out car AC units. It holds about a quart and has a refrigeration hose on one end and an air chuck on the other. I connected it to the gauge fitting, filled it with oil and applied 30 lbs of air to the top. It pre-lubed the engine, then I had pressure as soon as it turned over. Would be great on a new engine or one that had sat for years.

[Red Good]

That works , or lube on final assembly with a good assembly lube .

[HondaMan]

I was talking to a mechanic friend about starting my 750 for the first time after doing some work to it over the past year. I mentioned pouring some oil into the galley where the aftermarket pressuer gauge goes. He loaned me a tank used to flush out car AC units. It holds about a quart and has a refrigeration hose on one end and an air chuck on the other. I connected it to the gauge fitting, filled it with oil and applied 30 lbs of air to the top. It pre-lubed the engine, then I had pressure as soon as it turned over. Would be great on a new engine or one that had sat for years.

Cool idea! I've often wondered about such a device, and how it might work. The way I've been doing it is messy: pull the pump, prime it, drip oil everywhere while reinstalling, then pull out the sparkplugs and crank with the electric start (or 40-50 kickstarts!) until the oil light goes out. It works fine, but is messy and time-consuming.

[Don R]

 I'm not sure it would prime the pump if it was dry but it sure did make pressure instantly. I didn't think to turn on the key to see if the pressure light went out. I'm sure it would have.

 I rode it to the corner and back today without the air filter. I need new exhaust washers and a muffler on the F2 header.

[Terry in Australia]

I always pre-lube my pumps when I build an engine, but that doesn't usually do squat to get oil up to the head in a hurry, so I tip the bike over to the left as far as I can and pour oil into the rocker cover to give the cam and rockers a fighting chance, and pour more oil into the oil gallery before I hit the button. I do like the idea of pressure forcing the oil throughout the engine, I might have to look into something like that setup. Cheers, Terry.

[Don R]

Drag racers use a pressurized lube storage cylinder, they use it to pre-lube and to store oil under pressure in case of oil starvation under excessive braking. After a run  the oil might be mostly in the top of the engine or slosh to the front of the pan. They are probably more expensive than this AC tool.

[anders288]

  The old stand by for SCCA old race cars http://accusump.com/

[Don R]

I'm wondering if you could remove the pump innards from a grease gun, put an air valve on it and make one cheap? Just remember to use caution when applying air pressure. true with the one I used too.

[anders288]

I have seen LP gas tanks use to prime new motors

[Don R]

We used to start rebuilt VW's for the first time on LP gas. Kept the cylinder walls from gas washing.

[HondaMan]

I feel a new product coming on...

The old Ford turbo Mustangs and Fairmonts of the 1980s had a recall to save the turbos: it was a small chamber with a spring-loaded diaphragm inside that collected oil when the engine ran, and it had a check valve in the diaphragm that let the oil out slowly after shutoff, into the turbo journals. This was due to the turbo's 35k RPM speed, which kept it turning long after the engine shut off, and the bearings wore out in about 5k-8k miles, causing lots of warranty costs.

With a small chamber, one could make a preload-able quart of oil with the push of one's hand that would then back-fill the engine, either thru the oil journal's cap or the oil PSI switch hole. Even simpler, something that screwed onto the cap of a plastic oil quart bottle and fit those engine inlets...squeeze away?

[Don R]

That's why I like you guys. Hondaman, instead of royalties you could just send me honda stuff. LoL!

The first old engine I started, I screwed an elbow into the pressure gauge thread and then just stacked some pipe fittings until I got to a 3/4x6 pipe nipple, I put a funnel in that and poured in some oil just before trying to fire it. It made pressure quickly too but not like the pressure fed one.

[05c50]

Back in the olden days, when I was just a pup starting out at the Ford dealership, we had a thing that the older mechanics called an oil pig. It was a small tank that had a shraeder valve on one end and a flexible hose with a gauge and regulator on the other. We used it to prime engines before starting and to find oil leaks and worn bearings. You put oil in it, pressurized the tank with air, opened the valve and regulated the pressure entering the engine through the oil sender hole. You left it on and started the engine, when the oil pressure increased (indicated the engine oil pump was working), you turned off the air pressure.

.............Paul