How important is it to Pre=lubefirst engine rebuild?

[chrismorse]

This is a fairly high performance rebuild, on my dad's old coupe. How beneficial is a prelube effort for the first start?????
I'm going with Gibbs oil for the first couple of changes.

I'm considering setting up a pressure lube before the first starting effort.

I've used assembly ube on the bearings and cam/rockers.

Am i wasting time, or is this worthwhile??

I'll pull the plugs and crank till i have presure.

Thanks chris

[Flat6pac]

It’s nice to know you have pressure or at least flow before firing.
On the later from 2.7 the pressure doesn’t show until the case oil gallies are full.
You should first get light flicker on oil warning then the gages should respond with some movement.
Bruce

[stownsen914]

I've found that with extended cranking before first startup, I can see a tick on the oil pressure gauge. Then I know I'll get oil pressure right away when I fire it up. I like to fill the oil a few hours before too, helps let the oil make its way to the oil pump and lessen the cranking needed.

[Trackrash]

oil priming ?? getting ready to fire up...

Originally Posted by Martinlassmann

Take out the oilsensor in the clutch side and with a big syringe press 1 quarter in the system.
In my case 74 Engine the Pressure was there at once.
Good luck
Martin

[Jeff Alton]

We built a prelube tank for use on various engine builds. Is it required? Probably not, if you crank engine with out fuel pump running and build pressure. On the water cooled engines they stuggle with that, so that was the main purpose behind the preluber. You can easily create more than 1 bar pressure on a new aircooled engine cranking on the starter with out a start.

Cheers

[Zuffenwerker]

It’s a fine idea I think it’s worthwhile. It’s best to remove the spark plugs and disco fuel pump. Removing the spark plugs reduces pressure on the con rod and main bearings while there is no oil pressure…the engine also cranks much faster with no compression building oil pressure real quick

[mikedsilva]

Just thining about this... when doing cam timing, would it be a good idea to have an oil source supplying the pump, so each timr you rotate the motor by hand, it's slowly moving oil through the motor ??

[shoooo32]

Every time I start a race car I "crank for pressure". Usually takes 2-3 five second starter engagements to build 10psi. Then ignition on, start the engine.

For street cars, I only do this for engine builds and when removing from storage. Pull the fuel pump relay, unplug the CDI and crank in five second bursts until there's pressure.

[Rosco_NZ]

Modern computer systems often allow for a few rotations before ignition is fired - build pressure before load goes on big end and main bearings.

Also feature to pull the timing right out when cranking takes the load off the starter.