| Most of us know that oil and proper oil pressure is critical to the sustained
operation of our trusty V4s (or any engine for that matter). At no time is this more
critical than the first time an engine is started after a re-build. Even if you have
used gobs of molly when assembling the engine (a good thing), the bearings and the bore
will be devoid of oil. The reciprocating parts will be sitting on the bearing surface.
To overcome this initial "dry" start condition the engine must be
pre-oiled. One technique is to disable the ignition and use the starter to crank the engine. This will cause the oil pump to run but at a rather slow rate (cranking speed is about 200 RPM). It takes quite a while for oil to reach the rocker shafts (the furthest point). Oil pressure never gets very high and you run the risk of over-heating your starter and/or running down your battery. In my opinion, the far better technique is to use a modified distributor and an electric drill to turn the oil pump drive shaft. The key is to remove the cam drive gear from the distributor. Doing so allows the distributor shaft to spin freely, while it remains supported by its bearings. In place of a rotor attach an electric drill. The shaft is a little over 1/2 inch OD so the drill must have a chuck that can handle that size shank. The drill will turn the distributor shaft which will turn the oil pump drive shaft. It is possible to use a 6 point socket (and extension) to drive the oil pump shaft directly. The downside of this method is that proper alignment of the shaft is difficult. The photo below illustrates this technique. Note the oil spillage under the rocker shafts.
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