New motor with Melling high volume oil pump. The last motor I did this to would spill oil out of the distributor hole when I spun the stock pump with a drill. This one just has a small flow, not even close to spilling out.

I am going to use my bigger drill tomorrow and see what happens.

Should I be worried?

I primed my engine by hand, using an extension, a socket, and a rachet drive. As long as you hear the oil going back into the pan and can feel some resistance, you should be alright. I have a high volume oil pump in mine.

I prime my engine every spring...
never had oil come out of the dist hole on any of them...
I just make sure the rockers are getting oiled an the psi light goes out

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84 Fiero Turbo Vortec 4300 Phantom GT
L35 block
Syclone Intake and ECM
T04B H3 Turbo
http://www.cardomain.com/id/vortecfiero

"Any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"

If you have a helper, have the helper sit in the driver's seat with the key in the run position while you run the drill. Have your helper watch the oil pressure gauge and call out PSI readings.

The motor was on the cradle, about 6 feet behind the car. Well, it was, now it's installed. I plan to spin it with the key on tomorrow and watch the oil pressure.

Thanx.

I did mine with a speed handle and a socket. I also hooked up a mechanical pressure gauge I had laying around the garage. I'm using a GM performance parts hi-vol oil pump. Using 10W-40 oil I was able to get it to slowly pour out the distributor port. It did take a while to fill up everything before it started to flow.

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Happiness isn't around the corner...
Happiness IS the corner.

Take the valve covers off and spin the pump until you see oil at the top of EVERY pushrod. That's when the engine is properly primed.

New engine or just been sitting for a while?

If it's a used engine that's been sitting, pour a teaspoon of auto trans fluid into each cylinder and roll the engine over a few revolutions by hand.

Just unplug the orange wire to the ECM and crank it over with the plugs out. When you see pressure you should be fine. But remember the fuel pump will turn on as soon as there is pressure so be sure to plug it or hook up the lines to the rail

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LS1 v8 T-Top 87 GT

[url]http://www.acxunlimited.com/ls1swap.htm [/url]

I started my new motor today. It fired right up, but sounded like it has a miss. After about 1 minute I noticed the cold start injector tube was leaking. I turned the car off and also noticed a coolant leak.

After I pulled the intake to install a new o-ring for the injector tube, I noticed my head studs had coolant coming out between the stud and nut. I used black RTV to seal the threads of the studs where they screw into the block. Was I supposed to seal the nuts too? The instructions were very clear on using lubricant on the washers, nuts and studs for accurate torque readings, but said nothing about sealant for the nuts.

This is bad.

There shouldn't be any coolant around the studs, if the threads are sealed good. I don't think sealing the nuts and washers will help either, in the long long term. Something's amiss. Hairline crack around the threaded hole is a fairly common cause. Good luck.