Rebuit Engine 4 Years Ago - Need To Break In Cam

[69fourspd]

Hey guys.  Always appreciate any advice you can give. 

I rebuilt my 440 about 4 years ago but never got to breaking the engine in.  I moved which delayed the build.  I am about ready to start it for the first time, but am worried all the cam lube has dissipated.  The engine internally looks good from what I can see.  I primed the oil before it sat and sealed it up fairly well.  Turns real nice.  Engine is in car and everything is bolted up and wired for break in.

Question is what would you do? I don't want to pull the manifold and valley pan since everything is sealed and looking good.  I have all the additives for the oil that is suggested on DC.com.  Would you feel safe starting it up, or tear it apart? Any suggestions are much appreciated.

Thx - Matt

[xpbprox]

I don't have much experience but I'm about to do this to mine too and I've been reading a lot. I would take the intake and valley pan off and put some molly grease in there with your fingers especially because you have rotated the engine and probably wiped some of the lube away. I also read that the lifter "oil holes" need to be facing down (toward the exhaust side) so make sure you did that because I didn't and had to fix that first. You will have to prime the oil pump again and in a thread somewhere, they said to prime rotate engine 90 prime again and so forth...

Edit:
what are the engine SPECS?

[69fourspd]

Here are the specs:

69 440 .40 over
906 heads, 88cc chambers, Comp Cam #911 springs
9.5:1 speedpro pistons
rods shot peened, balanced
Lunati VooDoo Cam
Edlbrock performer rpm
ProForm 750 vac sec.
3.91 suregrip
15 inch tires
PTC 11" 2800 stall

[Challenger340]

I don't have much experience but I'm about to do this to mine too and I've been reading a lot. I would take the intake and valley pan off and put some molly grease in there with your fingers especially because you have rotated the engine and probably wiped some of the lube away. I also read that the lifter "oil holes" need to be facing down (toward the exhaust side) so make sure you did that because I didn't and had to fix that first. You will have to prime the oil pump again and in a thread somewhere, they said to prime rotate engine 90 prime again and so forth...

Edit:
what are the engine SPECS?

* Molly, or some extreme pressure lubricant containing Zinc would be nice on the Cam Lobes prior to start up, or pour Zinc additive directly on the lobes.

* It is NOT the "Lifter Oil Holes" that need to be facing down and out towards the Exhaust, doesn't matter which direction because they are in a groove.
but rather,
The Rocker SHAFT Oil Holes, HAVE TO BE DOWN & OUT towards the Exhaust. Torque the Shafts @ 25ft/lbs.

* Have someone slowly rotate the engine by hand as you run the primer, with the Valve Covers off, and watch for the Rocker Shafts on each Bank to fill with OIl.
Each Rocker Shaft only recieves a "shot" of Oil once every 2 Engine revolutions as the #4 Cam journal crossdrill lines up in the Brg, so rotate slowly as you Prime and watch each Head. 

[xpbprox]

That makes sense what you said about the lifters, but I just remembered someone stating to put them that way. Maybe oil will get to it a little bit faster haha

[Chryco Psycho]

for the time it takes to pull the intake that is what I would be doing , you can re-use the valley pan , it is a lot less work then changing a wiped cam

[69fourspd]

Thanks guys.  I will pull the manifold and paste on some moly lube.  I have some cam lube and will poor over the cam and dist. gear while I am at it. 

Will definately rotate and prime before starting her up.  Hopefully it runs! The degree wheel 4 years ago has me on edge.... First full motor rebuild and no dots on the timing gears 

[Chryco Psycho]

Prime it Before you lube the cam & wipe the lube off rotating it over

[firefighter3931]

Prime it Before you lube the cam & wipe the lube off rotating it over

Good advice 



Ron

[poppa]

How do you prime? Turn by hand? Where are you putting the oil?

[xpbprox]

You have to use a prime shaft, summit has them. Search oil pump prime shaft.
I actually just got a long Allen head, don't know what size, because I didn't feel like paying over $10 for a stick of metal

[poppa]

Mine is slotted.

[oldkimmer]

.................its a 5/16th hex make sure ur drill is turning counter clockwise............kim........

[69fourspd]

Thanks for all the replys. 

Here is a summary of what I did based on all your suggestions. 

- primed motor while rotating assembly
- pulled off intake and valley pan
- wiped off cam lobes to get moly grease to stick better
- applied moly greese with my finger as best I could
- had left over cam lube, so I poured a little over moly grease, cam and gear for good measure
- bought new fel-pro 1214 valley pan, powder coated, realised it doesnt fit. Motor is a 440
- ordered the correct valley pan fel-pro 1215 and waiting to arrive for assembly

Hopefully someone else will read this and not make the same mistake on the wrong valley pan.

Here is a picture of the motor almost ready to go.  the lines hanging off the side are temporary oil and temp gauges for break in if you were curious.

[poppa]

Not trying to hijack but...I'm confused. If I look in where my distributor should be the hook up is slotted. So I have to take out the drive shaft and gear,correct? How is this done without dropping it? Does it have to go back in a certain way (for timing),or just drop it in? Thank you for your time.

[Chryco Psycho]

you need to use a screwdriver & rotate the oil pump drive out of the cam & remove it then you need a long hex shaft to go past the cam into the oil pump drive

[poppa]

I take it this will come out through the distributor hole then??? Drop  it back in,position doesn't matter? Thank you.

[FLG]

Yes through the distributor hole.


With engine TDC on the #1 cylinder compression stroke, you want the slot parallel with the camshaft.

But in all reality you could put it however you want as long as it was wired up correctly. Just make sure the rotor position coincides with the wire going to the 1st cylinder.

[poppa]

Thank you all for the info. Anyone have a tip on getting it out? Magnet?


69fourspd,did you fire it up yet?

[FLG]

Long pliers works, if there not quite long enough stick a screwdriver in it and rotate, it will turn on the crank gear and move up an inch or so.

[poppa]

Thanks to all for the info. Got it out ,had to "make" my own priming tool, worked great,got oil at the gauge port first and when it turned to the sweet spot,got oil right away to the rockers. Bottoned it up and dropped it in. Hopefully tomorrow after work my son will help install the trans. Thanks again.

[69fourspd]

Poppa - Good to hear you got the engine primed.  I actually used a telescoping magnet which fits perfectly into the round recess where the straight groove is. 

I am targeting Friday for the break in.  I will install the intake tomorrow and get everything buttoned up and triple check everything. 

Just an FYI, finished the TTI 2.5 dual exhaust kit on HP manifolds.  Install was good and only had to cut an inch off the pipes that run from the x-pipe to the pipes that connect to manifolds.  Did it myself and had no problems.  Took about 3 hours all together.

[poppa]

What are you planning on doing for break in? Hope all goes well.

[69fourspd]

Basically planning to turn it over and with a bit of luck it will kick.  If it does, I will get the RPMs to 2000 and try to get the timing a little closer.  If I get to this point, I will throttle up to 2300ish for a minute and back to 2000 - repeat again for 20 min.  If the motor goes that long without major issue, I will shut it down and crack a beer.

If it doesn't go well, I wil crack a few more beers...

Timing is set on cylinder 1, engine TDC.  Oil primed, Cam lubed, radiator filled, trans filled with plug on tail (no driveshaft yet), Trans in park, gauges wired for temp, oil, rmp, big fan in front of car ready to push some air.

[terrible one]

One thing! Don't leave the trans in park during the break-in, go for neutral instead. From what I understand the 727 doesn't pump fluid in park.

[poppa]

Years ago ,for break in, we were told to drive it. If a 4 speed ,in second get the r's up to where you wwould shift and back off the throttle like 15 times. We were told it helps seat the rings. Don't know if right but, never had a problem.

[69fourspd]

Thanks Terrible One!  I will put the trans in neutral. 

Can't drive the car since it is just a shell. I am hoping to get the motor running so I can bring it in for final paint. Wanted to get the motor running in case I botched something and had to pull the motor.  I dont like working around expensive fresh paint with big blocks of cast iron swinging around 

[HeavyFuel]

Same boat here...440, stock specs, been sitting on an engine stand for 4 years in an airtight bag...until about 3 months ago.  She's looking SWEET.

OK....please educate me .  I'm guessing the cam lube is kinda thick type stuff.  Why would it have to be re-applied?  Wouldn't it still be in place, for the most part?  What about the oil?  Shouldn't there be a film which would be enough to protect the surfaces until the engine turns over a few times and is re-oiled?

Does turning the engine over by hand, such as when you replace a torque converter/flexplate, or check for TDC at #1, oil the engine?

I put in a blocked crossover VP a couple weeks ago, and it looked like a bunch of Vaseline looking stuff was still all over the cam.  The lobes themselves did look pretty clean, though.

?

[Chryco Psycho]

the cam lube "should" still be there , the black moly stuff will stay on , the red lube will drip off over time if looked coated still when you had the intake off you should be fine .
turning the engine over oils nothing & only helps to wipe the minimal lube on the cam lobes off

[69fourspd]

The cam lube is thick.  There were two kinds - the assembly lube I got from Comp Cams, and Moly lube, which is like a paste.  It seems most of mine wore off from turning the engine assembly over the years and a few hot summers may have helped.  When I pulled my valley pan it was pretty much dry.  I got the moly lube and rubbed on the lobes with my finger.  The lobes will be the piece taking the abuse, so you will want those to be coated well.  

When you turn the engine by hand it doesnt get oiled.  You will need a long hex rod to turn the oil pump with the dist. out.  This would hook up to a half inch drill and go counter clockwise.  After a few seconds you will feel the drill pull which is the oil pump kicking in with pressure.  I got the rod from Mancini an few years ago.  

When I pulled of the valley pan I pretty much destroyed it so I had to pop for another $25.

Glad I did it though.  It is good piece of mind.  When I drained the oil and cut the filter open I didnt see any metal shavings - not even small dust like particles on the drain magnet.  

[69fourspd]

One thing on the lube - When I assembled I used the red install lube (kind of liquid).  This may have been why is was gone when I opened it up. If you used moly lube, it may have stuck on better over time (looks like dark vaseline).