Oil priming. Pre oiling. First startup

[Cyborg]

I follow the Ron Kemp Mantra for a new engine start (its basically fill every orifice with oil) including oil can in the crankshaft hole and a full filter housing. Then I run the engine on my rollers till I see a squirt in the filler pop the plugs in and start her up. whats not to like?
Another interesting item is in this months Douglas Mag its all about initially running the bore dry to bed the rings in* so I will try that this time and add oil at the add plugs stage
* by the late Phil Manzano 1995

There is usually a heathy debate about oiling or not oiling the rings during assembly. I’m operating with the understanding that the builders of race engines came up with that... obviously to speed up the bedding in. I oiled the Comet rings, party because for a street bike, I don’t see the value in installing them dry plus the rings were from Deves. The oil ring he supplies is made up of 4 dainty pieces, so I figured oil is desirable to help sneak them past the chamfer at the bottom of the liner. I don’t know if I would put rings in completely dry... it’s obviously a matter of preference, but I think they should at least have a light smear of on the top and bottom of the ring or wipe a small amount into the ring lands. If you watch YouTube videos of factories assembling engines, sometimes you see them lubricating the pistons and rings, sometimes you don’t. It may be that they do, but it’s just not captured in the video. The other thing is that if I prime the engine, crank, return line etc with oil and start the engine, I figure the cylinder wall will get covered in oil almost instantly. Anyway.... just another opinion.

Ps... I think one upside to the pressurized primer is that it feeds the cams with a steady flow of oil and forces all of the air out of the passageways, which may not occur with the oil can, although... presumably it would occur reasonably quickly on the rollers ( which I don’t have..yet). Whether or not this primer is any better than an oil can is certainly up for debate.... the only thing I know for sure is I had fun making it. So much fun, that I may make a version 2.0 out of a soda stream cartridge. Pressurized oil primers are readily available, but would rather spend the money on tooling and make my own. I actually made the first one for a lessor marque and then discovered the fitting had the same threads as the Vincent jet holder.

 

[Cyborg]

Another option. This photo was sent to me by a Vincent scholar who frequents this forum from time to time, but is currently busy farting around with a twin engine Triumph.

 

[vibrac]

Apart from running the bore dry the writer of the Douglas article also suggests that a freshly bored engine should be wiped in the bore with soap hot water and a sequence of white cloths only when the cloth remains white is it time to fit it (dry) to the engine.

 

[Cyborg]

Very cool. Now tell us about the frame, I thought for a moment it was a Tonti with the down tubes cut out but closer comparison suggests otherwise.

I wish it was a MG frame.. or totally from scratch. There was logic applied to the frame choice, but it escapes me at the moment. Using it did force me to make some compromises.
It came from this bike, which is a glorified version of the famous plastic maggot. No.. the palm tree is not mine, but yes the photo was taken in Canada. When I complete the bike, I intend on taking another photo in the exact same location. It will likely cause me great shame, because in all likelihood the palm will have grown to the point where the leaves are no longer in the frame. I’ve only posted a thumbnail image to reduce the possibility of causing anyone ocular trauma.
The frame is slightly different from the photo in that link. The back section was cut off, threaded slugs installed inside the rear frame tubes.... which holds the version 2.0 oil tank, turn signals, tail light and a “Quick-Latch” to hold down version 5.2 of the seat/tail section. I also redid the garish rearset brackets and installed a ceramic coated pipe with the A/F sensor bung.

Bill, Genedn...there was progress yesterday. I now have working turn signals.

 

[Monkeypants]

With the 1360 motor I slathered common VR1 20/50 oil on everything as it went together then clamped a large industrial duty angle drill onto the
crankshaft via a shopmade Arbor piece.
With the engine whirling over at 150 rpm, plugs out, it took quite awhile to see oil back at the tank, maybe 20 minutes or so. Somewhere in there I dumped more oil down the bores. Not going to glaze up without heat.

Then it was a couple of kicks to fire it up.
There was a bit of smoke for 20 seconds on that first start up and never any since. A large person can stand on the kicker for a very long time, the rings bedded in ok.
Have read about the dry bed-in but wouldn't want to run the rings dry for however long it takes to get oil on the cylinders during the lube system prime with this method.

Glen

 

[Bill Thomas]

I wish it was a MG frame.. or totally from scratch. There was logic applied to the frame choice, but it escapes me at the moment. Using it did force me to make some compromises.
It came from this bike, which is a glorified version of the famous plastic maggot. No.. the palm tree is not mine, but yes the photo was taken in Canada. When I complete the bike, I intend on taking another photo in the exact same location. It will likely cause me great shame, because in all likelihood the palm will have grown to the point where the leaves are no longer in the frame. I’ve only posted a thumbnail image to reduce the possibility of causing anyone ocular trauma.
The frame is slightly different from the photo in that link. The back section was cut off, threaded slugs installed inside the rear frame tubes.... which holds the version 2.0 oil tank, turn signals, tail light and a “Quick-Latch” to hold down version 5.2 of the seat/tail section. I also redid the garish rearset brackets and installed a ceramic coated pipe with the A/F sensor bung.

Bill... there was progress yesterday. I now have working turn signals.


View attachment 38638

Another Bike I would have liked to own, Don't like the name Maggot !.
We had 2 in my local Feked, Last year, One was a 650 ! Tasty !.
Getting a list of Bikes I should have had, But left it too late.
But I guess I have been lucky with my Vin's.
Wish I was as Keen as you , Good Luck, Bill.

 

[Cyborg]

Another Bike I would have liked to own, Don't like the name Maggot !.
We had 2 in my local Feked, Last year, One was a 650 ! Tasty !.
Getting a list of Bikes I should have had, But left it too late.
But I guess I have been lucky with my Vin's.
Wish I was as Keen as you , Good Luck, Bill.

I do believe it was your fellow countrymen that came up with that name. If I could have found a nice 650E I likely wouldn’t have bought the Moto Guzzi. I would still be riding the Honda and wouldn’t have started on the foolhardy journey.... stuffing a Comet engine into the dreaded Japanese frame. I hated riding the 500 Interstate and that’s why it was demoted to donor status. Granted it would have been more rideable with some actual maintenance, but still needed thicker fork tubes and another gear.

 

[litnman]

I favor using the dry film Quick Seal by Total Seal to coat the cylinder. Stops glazing at run in.