Pre-oiler question

[mdross1]

Originally Posted by blykins

When I mock up an engine to degree the cam, check piston/valve clearance, etc., etc., I'll use an old set of mock-up bearings and squirt some oil on both halves with an oil can, or rub on some assembly lube before I drop the crank in, and before I put the rods on the crank. You'll be surprised at how much oil flows out of the bearing and runs down the main cap, or flows out of the rod bearing. I have pulled those bearings back out with wipe marks on them....now mind you they weren't worn, but there was contact....and that was from a low number of revolutions, with no load. If there is no flow, there is no resulting load support.

After everything is cleaned, the crank is polished, and I go to fully assemble with the intended bearings, I will saturate the bearings with assembly lube (I use Royal Purple and it's very viscous), but I'm still shocked at how much squirts out and runs down the main caps when I'm rolling the engine over to do different things.

Have always built all my motors and drive trains and like you anal about clearances,assembly lube and all that goes with making things right as they possibly can be.
For a long time considered the preoiler certainly can see the benefit if one was offered to use you know it would be plumbed up.
Again in all the years of pulling motors apart and knowing how some were cared for realize the preoilers are not needed for most.No doubt they have a place if I were road racing all the time would certainly have one in my car.

[blykins]

I will edit this post because it came across harsher than what I intended...

What I meant to say was that for a thread that would benefit from some detailed analysis and proof.....there wasn't much. It just seemed like everyone was fighting for their own opinion.

I hopped over to Speedtalk and did some searches to hear what some other builders were saying. The general consensus there was the same thing here: it certainly doesn't hurt anything and in high horsepower cars where acceleration and cornering is a concern, it can actually help. What really raised a flag was that Jeff told me that the car would possibly sit for months at a time. I've seen sticky cam lube fall off of parts in a couple weeks' time, so I know that oil will slide off easily. I'm not under the impression that you can walk away from a car, walk back in a season, and oil is just poised and waiting at the pushrod tips, lifters, bearings, etc.

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by blykins

What I meant to say was that for a thread that would benefit from some detailed analysis and proof.....there wasn't much. It just seemed like everyone was fighting for their own opinion.

I hopped over to Speedtalk and did some searches to hear what some other builders were saying. The general consensus there was the same thing here: it certainly doesn't hurt anything and in high horsepower cars where acceleration and cornering is a concern, it can actually help.

Brent, another forum with engine builders isn't detailed analysis and proof. There is none available. The OP's original question will naturally have drawn opinions.

The part is cheap and the installation relatively simple, so Lippy, do it or don't it. You won't find proof here.

For me, my cars sit. You take the coil wire off and crank. Your preoiled, then start the car. With a preoiler, there's additional connections and something else to potentially go wrong.

I have an expensive engine, my engines have always sat for long periods and I'm not worried. But whatever.

[blykins]

I didn't say that Speedtalk would offer a detailed analysis....I was just looking for data.

I worked for a Valvoline engine lab where we ran engines for extensive periods of time, then tore them down and rated the bearings. However, we didn't have a fixture for dry starts. I was looking for that kind of data.

But you're echoing what we've all been stating....it's just a matter of opinion and it certainly doesn't hurt anything.

I will say this...

Just because someone runs an engine for years and years and "doesn't have a problem" doesn't lend much data for experience. I had a pair of Federal Mogul bearings de-laminate in a BBC that I built. I don't know if a piece of trash passed through or what, but I had no indication that anything was wrong at all on the dyno. No increase in oil temperature, no decrease in oil pressure, nada. I didn't know anything until I checked the filter. My gut says that engine would probably have run for a long time and no one would have ever known the difference.

But, opinions are like.........blah blah blah.....

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by blykins

Just because someone runs an engine for years and years and "doesn't have a problem" doesn't lend much data for experience. I had a pair of Federal Mogul bearings de-laminate in a BBC that I built. I don't know if a piece of trash passed through or what, but I had no indication that anything was wrong at all on the dyno. No increase in oil temperature, no decrease in oil pressure, nada. I didn't know anything until I checked the filter. My gut says that engine would probably have run for a long time and no one would have ever known the difference.

But, opinions are like.........blah blah blah.....

As I mentioned above, I had a Chevy 396, 427, 454 and a 540 built in the decades that I owned my '66 Corvette Convertible. And that car sat for LONG PERIODS. Each engine was sold and each engine was inspected and ultimately torn down because they were raced after my ownership. Everyone in my peer network always wanted my "old" engines because they knew my "old" engines were in primo condition. That's my proof.

[blykins]

Yeah, but Chevys don't count. I'm even going to remove my Chevy comments from the record. Ugh. Chevys.

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by blykins

Yeah, but Chevys don't count. I'm even going to remove my Chevy comments from the record. Ugh. Chevys.

OK then, I'd add "ditto" for a 351W that was built and installed in my old '65 Mustang Fastback many moons ago too. So there.