340 Oil Priming Question First Start
Just trying to learn. Why is this so much worse than hand priming? Is it the initial movement not having oiling? If the oil pump is primed shouldn’t that oil flow right away?
Cranking the engine slowly like that on a new cam will almost always flatten a cam lobe.
Roller lifters don’t like slow RPM either. That’s why I like my idle to be between 950-1000 RPM.
The slow turning cam with almost no oil coming off the rods is a sure fire way to kill your engine.
Somewhere on FABO someone posted where to set the crank to get each side to oil. I’ve seen it but I don’t remember where it was.
Find that. Set the crank where it should be and prime it up. Then rotate it to the other number and do it again.
The other thing is when you are ready, make damn sure you have fuel and spark. Make sure the timing is correct. That means during break in you do NOT want to retard the timing a bunch.
Retarded timing makes heat. Heat is bad when it’s late because of retarded timing. I’ve seen exhaust valves stick that had over .0030 on them. That happens because combustion got started late so the heat generated is late and the valve has to eat up that heat. No amount of clearance will save severely retarded timing.
To that end, I set the crank at 40 degrees BTDC and stick the distributor in. Then I grab the rotor, turn it to full advance and line up the rotor with the number 1 wire. Bolt it down and crack it off.
I have a no key cranking policy. I just don’t do it.
FWIW, I have a buddy that just couldn’t stand cold starting his engine. So he would lay on the starter to build pressure.
Only took a couple of races and he started shitting lifters. That’s because at cranking speeds the roller wheel skids and slides and it beats up the needles. Bushing lifters don’t like laying on the starter either.
There isn’t a single good reason I can think of to ever lay on the starter to get oil pressure. Ever.