Small Block & Big Block Chevy Specific - Prime a new enigine

Hi,

I just built in my brand new Chevy SB 350 cui, which has never been run before.

I drilled the oil pump for a while, but no oil came out of the push rod.
It was pretty difficult to drill the pump, because the screw driver went out of pump, at least when I drilled faster.

How long do I have to drill it, and how fast (rpm)?

Thanks for your help

James

We used an old distributor shaft and modified it to fit our drill. That way you wont keep slipping out of the oil pump shaft. If you can get an old junk distributor for cheap just this is the way to go. You will have to keep the rpm's up high for, well, until oil comes out. Haha, sorry im not of more help.

You need a real oil pump primer or an old distributor with the top cut off.
Using a screw driver does not close the gap in the oil galley and all the oil you do pump dumps out right there at the rear of the oil galley before it gets to the lifters.

^^^^He's right. You can rent the correct priming tool at most auto parts stores and they'll give your money back when you return the tool.

it could take longer if the filter is dry too. get the tool and just pump away, i've heard to turn the engine over a couple times when priming b/c it gets the air out of the system

Get an oil pump primer tool, then rotate the engine each time you see some oil come out of the rockers by hand, then reprime, then turn the motor some, then reprime and repeat a few times. Once you get done I would toss in the distributor and fire it up. 1st thing you'd do is check the timing, while watching for leaks.

They also make electric oil prelubers you can use before each engine startup which is nice.

fill oil filter with oil, make sure oil pressure fitting is plugged on back on block or it will shoot out everywhere...... and then prime motor until you see oil coming out of each push rod and then keep priming for about 5 minutes after that...... its always good to turn the motor over a few times while doing it like the others said...... just make sure oil is flowing out of the top of the lifters/roller rockers for a lil while.....