First start engine pre-oiling

[andrew phillips]

I will be starting my Superior IO-360 soon. It last ran after initial build about 5 years ago. The manual suggests pre-pressurizing the oil before starting. Is there a "home-depot" method that can be used to do this? Is is necessary?

[grover]

I swung the prop through by hand until pressure was indicated on a mechanical gage that was connected to the electrical sender's plumbing - - I have no instruments yet. remove the plugs, crack the line to the gage, and hand prop like mad. eventually, oil leaked out of the line. after tightening the fitting, the gage indicates pressure and you are in business. after that, I cranked w/ the starter for a short period for good measure. on first start, the pressure came up quickly.

[mike newall]

We had this situation during our rebuild of a Christen Eagle a few years ago - this is what we did.

Prior to putting the engine to 'bed', we ran the engine up to temp, dropped the oil, put fresh oil in and ran it again.

Then, once cool, we opened every port, plughole etc and emptied a whole tin of Boeshield T-9 into it.

After that the engine stayed static - NO TURNING, occasional re treatment down the pushrods and onto the valves.

As that, the engine sat for nearly 2 years.

Prior to first start, we got an old battery, hooked it up, took all the plugs out and put rag into the lower holes to catch the stuff coming out. We then turned the engine on the starter for 15 seconds at a time, leaving time between each starter run for it to cool - total turning 1 minute. During this period, the oil pressure came up which showed that oil was getting everywhere.

Clean up, refit the plugs, new battery, cowls on.......................... Started on the 3rd blade and ran as sweet as a sweet thing !

Treated it as a new breakin and gave it some beans for the first couple of hours, dropped the oil then carried on as normal

[kentb]

I borrow my neighbors home build rig that worked very well. I consisted of section of PVC pipe that could hold about 1 gal of oil. It had a screw on lid with a pipe going to the bottom fitted to a flexible fuel type line. It also had a air hose fitting on it.

The fuel line was hooked to a oil fitting point behind cylinder #3 and the tank filled with oil. The air holes hooked up and the pressure turned up.
We got over 60 lbs without even turning the engine.

I should have taken pictures of this rig. I think that it could be built for under $20.00.

Kent