Pre-lube Engine Preceding Starting is all about getting the Plymouth or Dodge engine to last as long as possible by reducing the wear rate.
Pre-lube Engine Preceding Starting wasn’t on my mind until I stepped into a NYC Cab on a cold 1980’s brisk day. The early Dodge Aspen showed plenty of wear and the seats had been re-upholstered. I questioned the cabby on the mileage and got a prompt “550,000 miles”!
I pushed my luck and asked the cabby “any overhauls”? The answer was “Just valves”. And then the cabby gave out the secret “the engine is never shutoff”. The cab company policy was to change driver’s with the car remaining running including putting in gas with the car running.
The cab company was convinced starting an engine did more wear and tear than just wearing out starters!
Here is a recent article I cut out on that same subject:
Old car owners frequently have their cars sit for an extended time adding to the “drain down” of engine protective oils from the cylinder walls, timing chains, camshafts, crank & rod bearing, etc. adding to the wear potential during starting.
Worse is the newly rebuilt engine starting for the first time……that long wait before oil pressure buildup can be a stressful to the even the strongest among us. Considerable wear to your investment is likely during that time frame as oil is pushed thru narrow passages for the first time.
People that invest considerable time, money and effort in their project have developed a solution…..Pre-lube Engine Preceding Starting.
There are different circumstances to consider:
a) Freshly rebuilt engine first start
b) Infrequently used engine starting
c) Day to day engine cold starting
A solution for the first case of a freshly rebuilt engine start is presented in the next description. The other cases will be reviewed in a later article.
Serious pressure and pumping capacity is needed to get the oil distributed throughout the engine prior to it’s first start since so many passages have no oil in them and the path is fairly restricted by tight passages as tolerances have tightened up during the rebuilding. No oil splashing going on either.
What better to use than an oil pump matching your existing one?!! Plus it’s practically free. The short description of the photos provided:
- plymouth or dodge flathead six used oil pump dropped in a coffee can
- drill and tap the pump outlet to hook up fittings to connect to a steel line
- sleeve the shaft to retain the pump driving rod
- fashion a driving rod from a steel bar
- place the driving rod in a variable speed drill that can rotate counterclockwise
- connect the other end of the steel line to a convenient engine oil port
- include a pressure gauge to carefully monitor the pressure to not exceed 60 psi by controlling the variable speed drill
Or you can borrow the Colonial Region Portable Pump unit each time you rebuilt your engine and avoid having your own!!
Obviously pouring oil on the valve train and cam and pumping all 5 quarts of oil with a ZDDP additive into the filter/engine assembly helps to reduce that initial wear too.
Pre-lube Pump and Power Driver:
Pre-lube Power Driver Rod Detail:
Pre-lube Oil Pump Dropped In Coffee Can
Pre-lube Connection At Engine Block Plan View:
Pre-lube Connection At Engine Block Side View:
Pre-Lube Assembled To Slant 6 On Test Stand:
If anyone wants to build this with more info on the details just ask.
An upcoming article will discuss what can be done to Pre-lube Engine Preceding Starting for the week to week starting of your engine by pre-lubing with a more lightweight portable unit:
Some annotated pictures of the remote automatic pre-lube system in a 65 Dart with 225 slant; ignition key is turned on (but not to start position) to activate the automated pre-lube system:
