Our LRDG Chev

[Andrew H.]

Today was the BIG DAY when we kicked the motor into life. After attaching the carburetor, distributor, generator, coil, fan belt and starter motor we parked Eric's vintage tractor beside the truck to jump-start from its battery. We didn't connect the radiator. Then we rigged up a temporary gravity fuel tank (no fuel pump yet) and guess what! She actually started!! She ran beautifully for 15 seconds until we killed it and gave ourselves a big pat on the back! We may have an issue with the oil pump, as there was no oil spurting out of the holes in top of the valve rockers. We will have to keep an eye on that. Also we need to recondition the starter motor and fuel pump.

[lynx42]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Today was the BIG DAY when we kicked the motor into life. After attaching the carburetor, distributor, generator, coil, fan belt and starter motor we parked Eric's vintage tractor beside the truck to jump-start from its battery. We didn't connect the radiator. Then we rigged up a temporary gravity fuel tank (no fuel pump yet) and guess what! She actually started!! She ran beautifully for 15 seconds until we killed it and gave ourselves a big pat on the back! We may have an issue with the oil pump, as there was no oil spurting out of the holes in top of the valve rockers. We will have to keep an eye on that. Also we need to recondition the starter motor and fuel pump.

Well done Andrew and crew. Did you replace that tiny little feeder tube to the rocker gear down on the right side of the engine? It is a 'B' to do but it carries the oil to the top and being quite fine, it can gum up. 15 seconds might not be long enough to get the oil up that little pipe even if it is clear, so fingers crossed that it is ok.
Regards Rick.

[Mike K]

I agree with Rick. You need more than 15 seconds to get the oil up to the rockers . Before you give the engine another run, you could try priming the oil system with a external pump , doing this will circulate the oil around to all of the moving parts

[motto (RIP)]

No need for an external pump, simply remove the distributor and with a blade type screwdriver bit in an electric drill spin the pump. You can run it as long as you like, it will do no harm. I always do this before starting an engine after rebuild. You can feel the difference in torque when the pump primes and oil pressure comes up. It's good to know you will have oil pressure immediately when you do start the engine.

David

[Bob Carriere]

With a good 3/8 drill you can get pressure up to 40 lbs on a 235 or 261....not sure what reading you can get with a 216.

Once you have suitable oil pressure with the drill you can also spin the engine with the starter.... removing the plugs will get you some decent rpm......... and loosen up everthing before the first firing....

Waiting for the video of your first run....

Cheers

[Andrew H.]

Hi everyone,
Thanks Rick, Yes we have checked that the small oil pipe is connected correctly and has no blockages. Thanks David, - yes we will try the electric drill idea before the next start.
Andrew

[Andrew H.]

A quick update:

(i) Yesterday we used the electric drill in the distributor hole as suggested and got the oil to come out of the rocker holes, but only just - it just seeped out of a few holes but didn't spurt out. Is that what should happen? We don't want to run the engine for more than a few seconds until we are sure about this.

(ii) Can anyone post a pic showing how the throttle linkages go together on our kind of RHD Chev? All the Google pics show only LHD linkages, which are completely different. One of the linkages crosses from the accelerator pedal behind the engine to link up with the carby, but we cannot see where it fits or what it should be attached to (maybe the firewall?) We didn't take enough photos and now cannot remember.