One thing I would highly recommend is to fill the oil pump with oil before installing it. Last bushur shortly block I installed we put a new oil pump on it, installed everything and started it up per bushurs recommendations. There was zero oil pressure when we started it and even after a few seconds of running no pressure. We shut it down it investigate. I then took the timing belt off and ran the oil pump with my dewalt drill, and with the turbo feed line off as an indicator of when the oil was flowing I would stop. After 5 minutes of turning the oil pump, still nothing. Removing the oil filter showed it was dry still. Next I removed the new oil pump and tested it in the oil pan off the car with the drill again. Still nothing. As a last resort I poured oil into the pump by hand and gave it a try an instantly it pumped oil. Reinstalled everything and started the car and immediately had oil pressure. Had I just left re car running hoping it built pressure I'm 100% certain it would have killed the new buschur shortblock. Priming the oil pump takes 1 second off the car and can save you hours of work and thousands of dollars.

 

this makes sooo muhc more sense than the crap ive heard. oh and also tells me i should notttt build my own motor lol

 

kevind, good input but it's odd the pump too that long to prime.

I use an over abundance of lube in the shortblocks when I put them together, I mean a lot. It helps to protect it when you try to initially start the engine. Also, when we do the builds here we put quite a bit of lube in the oil pump before putting the cover on, so what you did is right on the money.

 

havent you gone through your fair share of motors? So I guess break in is pretty important

 

The way I always broke in my race motors for my talon was prime it 1st by spinning the oil pump while the motor is still out of the car. I would toss the motor in, plug everything in and fill it with fluids and fire the car up and rev the car upto about 4000rpm till it reaches normal operating temps. I would then shut the car off and drain the oil, the 1st oil dump is milky and very watery looking due to all the assem lube.
Put non detergent oil in and take it on a back road and let her rip, of course this was on a already tuned map as I kept 90% of my motors to the same specs. My motors would see 40+lbs of boost within the 1st 5 miles of it's life lol. With non detergent oil and the amount of boost I hit it with the rings seated rather quickly.
Once a few back to back pulls were done I would change the oil out to some good stuff and load her up on the trailer and go beat the snot out of it lol. Within 12 years I only had one motor failure and that was the pin boss on the piston ripped clean off on me, but the motor had several passes on it prior.
Like Dave said, if anything is going to happen, it's going to happen damn near right away, mostly within the 1st 100 miles or so. With today's new technology with honing machines and such there is no need for long break in periods. All the motors I build are honed with a diamond hone with tq. plate.
Back in the day it was recommended to take it easy on new motors since they were using old school hone machines and left the cylinder walls fairly rough, there for needed more time for rings to seat. Those days are long gone.

 

What about priming the turbo?? I mean oil needs to get in there or just hook it all up and turn it over??

 

before we put the engine in the car. we put the oil bottle on the oil pick up and uses our air tool to pump oil through out the engine.

 

i really want to build my motor now...
*sigh*

 

I converted to the dark side of the 2.3L club, getting last parts to put it in now :-)

 

Wow, everybody does all this prep stuff.


I just put oil in the motor and turned it over... lol. It worked for me.

 

I have had this happen to me. Now I always use one of those garden sprayers with oil in it to pump oil through the engine from the location that the pressure switch screws into.

 

This thread is always worth a good read.

I was just in a discussion over on another forum that I linked to this thread after I found it again. Figured I would give it a bump for those who havent seen it before.

 

So, when it is all summed up, there is theory and what major shops do to prep an engine for the first start, but not everybody is on the same page. I guess as long as the motor runs its good then?

 

Good thread. Heres my input. An oil pump installed dry will not prime itself. It wasnt designed to pump air. Learned the hard way years ago. After that I dont start a new motor without using a preluber first. For those who dont know it a sealed tank of oil that uses air pressure to lube whole engine like oil pump would. I rented it from discount but never returned the sucker. Invaluable tool every shop should have.

Second no engine is ever started without making sure you have spark, fuel pressure, and clicking injectors. On my evo 1, and DSM cars this is easy. turn ignition on and plug in second cam/crank sensor and turn by hand. Engine is not turning over but ECU thinks it is. Second to that method is to remove spark plugs for this stage and turn engine over till you are sure you have all three. Building compression on first dry start is horrible on cylinder walls and rod bearings. with out plugs there is no harm.

 

Bump...

It's very easy to preoil any engine before it's started for the first time, simply just pressurize it with an external pressurized oil source. In the Evo's case, simply hook it into the filter housing.