The V8 Owners Forum -

HI All
Ive just completed a minor rebuild and last time i did it i made a drill tool from an old dizzy, stripped and teeth ground off.

last time just drilled until you can feel it start to pump , light went out and i had pressure on my gauge.

this time i did the same but i checked the right hand rocker cover filler, furtherest away if you like, and theres is no oil coming through,

my question is, can a drill going about 1000-1200rpm pump enough oil to start to see it in the rocker covers???
When i took my drill out i also couldnt see any oil over the camshaft gear.

Ive taken the front cover off to have it powder coated and used a new gasket, am i just circulating oil around the pump??
If the relief valve is popping would i loose pressure on the gauge?? i can keep a steady pressure on the gauge using the drill.

Do i just start the engine and keep an eye on the rockers????and pressure???

cheers all, under pressure now for easter shows!!!!

How Minor was the rebuild??

If you cant get pressure up with a drill then dont risk it by running the engine at this time.

I use a dewalt battery drill at 500rpm to prime my rebuilds and 99% of the time this is fine. On one occasion it wouldnt prime so I span the drill backwards and forwards a few time before it pumped up ok.

If I set my drill to 1000 rpm it gives over 40psi cold on 20/50.

I also check my priming with both rocker covers off so I can see just what is coming through.

Tell us what you have done on the minor rebuild so we have more info.

I'm sure i've seen oil in the rockers on a drill, cant remember if it was a chevy or rover though.
I found that it would load the drill quite heavily almost wanting to twist your arm around when it was making good pressure.

rebuild was just the front cover clean up and gasket, new valley gasket,and sump gasket. nothing done to heads or internals.

I can definately feel the pull on the pump though the drill, it spun loosely then suddenly kicked back and now there is really good resistance there.

I would just have expected to see some oil at the rockers by now as ive used the drill for a good 2 minutes.

i did notice some fresh oil oozing onto the gear that runs the dizzy though.

cheers all
jase

i can see a constant 3 bar on my gauge at 1000rpm on the drill approx, but as its an after market gauge this mght not be precise.

before the rebuild the engine use to run around that pressure upto 5-6 bar when nailed. so iam happy that ive got sufficent pressure from the pump.

jetskijase wrote:rebuild was just the front cover clean up and gasket, new valley gasket,and sump gasket. nothing done to heads or internals.

I can definately feel the pull on the pump though the drill, it spun loosely then suddenly kicked back and now there is really good resistance there.

I would just have expected to see some oil at the rockers by now as ive used the drill for a good 2 minutes.

i did notice some fresh oil oozing onto the gear that runs the dizzy though.

cheers all
jase

If your rocker gear is nice and snug all I would expect to see when priming with a drill is a slight seep of oil from the rockers, or maybe just a few of the rockers depending on where the engine is sitting at rotation wise.. You can normally hear some farting sounds as oil comes up and expells air from the system into the rocker gear. In order to prove a point you could remove the rocker shafts and run the drill again. if all is good then expect a good shower of oil out of the holes in the heads.

jetskijase wrote:i can see a constant 3 bar on my gauge at 1000rpm on the drill approx, but as its an after market gauge this mght not be precise.

before the rebuild the engine use to run around that pressure upto 5-6 bar when nailed. so iam happy that ive got sufficent pressure from the pump.

If I was seeing 5-6 bar pressure on a hot engine I would worry about the oil relief valve sticking in the pump.

5-6 bar = approx 71 to 87psi. Way too much pressure for the Rover V8 setup. This will just knack the dissy drive gear in no time flat ?? Unfortunately its normally the cogs on the cam that shreds and not the cog on the dissy !!

3 bar cold pressure is ok. But I would be more comfortable with 15-25 psi at hot idle and around 40psi hot over 2500 rpm.

Try rotating the engine 180 degree's from where it sits now and use the drill to prime again. See if you get any oil seeping out of the rocker gear with the rockers in a different position ?

some good ideas there perry, great stuff thanks

ive ran with this gauge for a year and all has been ok, i should really sort a proper gauge out but the gears are all fine still.

Definitely a cordless drill is sufficient to prime it speed wise.

Can you fill it with oil via a oil filter takeoff to get it primed?

Don't start it until you've sorted this out!

Chris.

Is the new gasket not faulty and blocking of the pump output. This would explain that there is pressure and you could feel it pump but no oil in the covers. When I primed mine I could see plenty of oil coming from the rockershaft.

Kind regards,

Frank

I'm about to do this myself. Do you spin it clockwise or anticlockwise?

Regards,
Dave

clockwise

all sorted thanks chaps,

I was convinced i had oil running through engine, primed really well with drill etc,

so i took rh rocker cover off, started the engine, it ticked for 2 seconds then idled nicely,
i think it was expecting lots of oil squirting everywhere, but running just over tick over i could see oil slowly oozing out of the rocker towers.

jetskijase wrote: but running just over tick over i could see oil slowly oozing out of the rocker towers.

That's right. I run with the rocker covers off to make sure there is oil oozing between each rocker and the pedestal. Then all is good.

Chris.

jetskijase wrote:all sorted thanks chaps,

I was convinced i had oil running through engine, primed really well with drill etc,

so i took rh rocker cover off, started the engine, it ticked for 2 seconds then idled nicely,
i think it was expecting lots of oil squirting everywhere, but running just over tick over i could see oil slowly oozing out of the rocker towers.

Thats a commom mistake mate. Lots of folk expect to see oil gushing from the rockers. This in fact can lead to other oil related problems such as low pressure and at worst bottom end failure due to oil starvation. A RV8 with low oil pressure will often have the rocker chamber flooding with oil on tickover to the point that the oil will over flow with the rocker covers off.

This is due to worn rockers and rocker shafts. And is one of the causes of the old fave RV8 problem of oil seeping from the rear of the rocker cover gaskets ??
I have a guy coming over tomorrow to discuss his RV8 bottom end seizure. He said at tickover he had so much oil to the rockers that it over flowed with the covers off. He thought this was a good thing

Glad you got it sussed !!

Regards Perry