Question : Homemade Pneumatic Engine Pre-Oiling Machine

[60dgrzbelow0]

I am in need of some help and technical advice on the following idea for a new build:

On the wings of the success of designing, building and proving out "The FrankInjector Machine" for the thorough cleaning and re-conditioning of Fuel Injectors, I have it in mind to borrow the Pneumatic Section of the aforesaid device (or build and use a new one exactly like it) and create an Operational Pneumatic Engine Pre-oiler that will obviate the need for the removal of the OPD (Oil Pump Drive) and the temporary insertion and use of any Mechanical or Electrically Driven Pre-Oiler. If made well, this device could save many extra hours of work, including the need to remove engine sub-sections or perhaps an entire engine to accomplish this task.


CLEAR BRAIDED PVC HOSE 3/8 INCH 250 PSI 25 FT HA16-025

http://cgi.ebay.com/CLEAR-BRAIDED-PVC-HOSE-3-8-INCH-250-PSI-25-FT-HA16-025-/370469284001?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5641b0a8a1

CompCam Engine Break-In Lubricants

http://www.compcams.com/Products/CC-%27Lubricants%27-0.aspx

The Pre-Oiling Machine would find its point of oil entry to any engine block at the position of the Oil Pressure Sending Unit. This would require the temporarily removal of the OPSU to allow the high pressure clear re-enforced PVC tubing and fitting delivering the Engine Break-In Oil and other lubricants as needed, access to the engine oiling system at its pressuring inception point.

I am suggesting that no other modifications are necessary to the existing mounting stand that I use to hold "The FrankInjector Machine" hardware. In lieu of having to start designing something from scratch and having to change over to a Very Large Volume High-Pressure Oil Container, Instead, I am suggesting that I can employ that same Aluminium Cylinder at present being used to hold the EFI Cleaning Fluid and simply fill the cylinder with the required mixture of Engine Break-In Oil and Special Additives to protect the precious new bearings and rings in fresh engine builds or revive the vacant or dry oil galleries and bearing surfaces in engines that have been dormant for extended periods of time. The volume of this oil would necessarily be much greater than the small Aluminium Cylinder can hold, so instead I would attach a coil of high pressure (proofed to 250 PSI) clear, reinforced PVC hosing 25' long with a .375" Inside Diameter.

The clear coiled hosing would serve three purposes in this design: (1) The 25" length of hose would allow for a substantial quantity special, premixed lubrication to fill up that long length of tubing and act as the means of extending the storage capability of a sufficient quantity of lubricant instead of requiring a larger primary oil storage container. (2) The clearness of the tubing would allow the User/Mechanic to actually see exactly where the fluid moves along or ends and/or any air pockets that may be present in the line. As long as the Aluminium Cylinder is constantly being refreshed with the oiling mixture until the tubing hose is filled up, no air can invade the PVC line, assuming that the filling and refilling processes occur first with the purging of air from the hose all the way up to the attachment fitting and then prior to its being threaded into the female port of the Oil Pressure Sensor Unit located on the Oil Filter Manifold. (3) With such a long length of hose, it would be no trouble to move the stand supporting all of this apparatus close enough to either an engine stand or a vehicle very near thereto, and still have enough length to be guided along and inside any engine compartment for the purpose of easily attaching the PVC hose to the vacant female Oil Pressure Sending Unit port.

I have used metered pneumatic sourced by a typical air compressor tank and delivery lines to accurately and reliably pressurize the EFI Cleaning Fluid during all the regimes necessary to emulate normal fuel pressure for the 3.4L engine and the same will be possible using the clear PVC hosing which has been proof-tested to 250 PSI: well above the rated maximum oil pressure attained with the in-dwelling mechanical oil pump of our V6 engines.

The information and guidance I require knowing for this project is as follows:


(1) What is the volume in fluid ounces of a length of PVC hose measured at 25' L X .375" ID...?

(2) What is the Maximum Recommended Delivery Pressure of any Pre-Oiling Fluid Mixture sufficient to deliver enough special lubrication to all of the engine bearings and inner surfaces being protected... and NOT burst the Oil Filter Cannister ( if that needs to be considered in this design} ?

(3) What is the volume of Oil in Fluid Ounces required to fill all of the Empty Oil Galleries and Oil Passages as well as all Bearing Surfaces inside the average V6 Engine Block? At a minimum this information is critical in avoiding pre-maturely de-pressuring the aluminium Cylinder before actually reaching all of the areas requiring proper lubrication.

(4) What is the size of the thread/pitch count of the high pressure fitting on the Oil Pressure Sensor (Sensing Unit) and is there a swivel design available of this type of fitting that allows for high hydraulic pressure and provide the ease of being inserted and screwed tightly inside the Oil Filter Manifold?

If you have seen the results of the design and development of "The FrankInjector Machine", then you know that when I put my mind to a project... I will make a sincere effort to ensure that it really works as intended. So I would value any and all constructive ideas and criticisms on its design and its improvement as things progress.

[60dgrzbelow0]

In order to test whether this device will actually work properly, I intend to employ a stand-mounted 1995 L-32 3.4L in the process of being re-built and use a single valve cover and cork gasket divided in half and fitted to the outer lower angled portion of each engine head. This method will allow for the User/Mechanic to observe the progress of the oil making its way through the pressurized oil galleries lower in the engine and then up through the hollow push rods to lubricate the upper portion of the valve train.

I will interpret the even and steady flow of the new oil up through and over the entire valve train on either side of the engine as a strong indication that all of the air in the oil galleries in the engine block has been purged and that the engine is being successfully pre-oiled. With the critical parts thus coated and protected, If the oil makes this journey as described, I will slowly turn the crankshaft through several rotations to ensure that there is an even distribution of the special lubricants on the camshaft, camshaft bearings and the connecting rod bearings. The low speed and minimal number of cycles should all help to ensure an even distribution of the special oil on all internal engine parts.

When the engine is finally buttoned up and installed in the car with a crankcase full of the same special break-in oil and additive mixture, I'm anticipating that it can be safely started normally and run up to a steady 2,000 RPM for 25 minutes to perform the necessary initial camshaft and lifter break-in period. The pneumatic pre-oiling procedure using this proper engine break-in oil with plenty of ZDDP and other additives should dramatically reduce the likelihood of any damage occurring to the new engine parts that might suffer from having empty oil galleries or finding dry engine parts in harsh metal-to-metal contact and either wearing out suddenly or seizing pre-maturely.

I intend to document and post each step of these procedures via digital images and videos and will post the links to my photobucket for the forum members to examine. If I have overlooked or missed anything needed to make certain this process will work right... please chime in and let us all know.

[Mars]

Umm, I usually cut power to the coils and fuel pump and just crank it via the starter till i get pressure... But I've been known to do things a little haywire in the past.

[pocket-rocket]

I usually do the same as Mars, but instead of pulling the OPSU, why not just screw it in where the oil filter goes and pump it in from there? You will get more volume through there and you don't have to worry about teflon taping the OPSU and trying to install it again.

[geoffinbc]

You can buy said kits from several sources. Engines with crank driven pumps require the use of an external pre lube system. Garage built systems can be made from an old bucket and an oil pump attached to the lid and driven by a drill. A supply and return hose can be attached to an oil filter adapter screwed on to the motor.

[JerryRigg]

Apparently this stuff works really well too:

http://www.lifeautomotive.com/Products/ATE15001.asp

[tkoforpresident]

oh come on guys don't discourage him

I for one would love to see another one of Bob's inventions.

[2.8-350TBI]

Do it. Just use regulated air acting on oil to get it into the block. Thats what we do in my diesel tech program. We call it a pig lol

[60dgrzbelow0]

Gentleman...once again, your kind collaboration teaches me my craft. It is funny that in this situation, what you have guided in my thinking has prompted me to do the reverse of how I originally envisioned the base design of the first "FrankInjector Machine" where I had thought to create an elaborate electric pumping system involving an automotive fuel pump and some overly complex re-cycling and containment "aquarium". What it ended up using was the Aluminum container and the use of compressed air as the driving force to make it all work. But in this case, thanks to this early discussion, the reverse is true and I think that instead I will use a small electrically operated, inexpensive liquid pump:

http://cgi.ebay.com/3-8L-12V-CPU-CAR-HHO-Mini-DC-submersible-Water-Oil-Pump-/350250797408?pt=BI_Pumps&hash=item518c930960

Pocket-Rocket's idea about making a more direct fluid connection via the threaded oil filter interface makes more sense than trying to force many quarts of the special break-in oil through such a small and inconvenient orifice as the one fitted in the Oil Filter Manifold for the Oil Pressure Sensor Unit. Geoff Moore's (betterthanyou) suggestion about "The Bucket" prompted my search for a suitable, small liquid pump and the one linked above seems to meet all of the requirements, including working off of 12 VDC and having a 20,000 hour MTBF... all for less than $25.00.

The only other addition I will consider is that after having run this pump long enough to see the new lubrication percolating over the tops of the rocker arms, I intend to attach several powerful scavenged computer hard drive neodymium magnets to the outside and bottom of all oil filters, first to the initial "filled to the brim" camshaft break-in oil filter and then remove and replace them onto the second oil filter installed after the completion of the first 30 minutes of engine break-in time. That would all but eliminate the chance for any freshly machined areas and new parts from shedding ferrous metal particles and having the chance to become buried deep into the softer Babbitt bearing surfaces.

So all I will require in the way of materials for this project are:

1. A shorter length of the reinforced clear PVC tubing and some S/S screw clamps
2. The new fluid pump (the one I'm ordering works either with oil or water)
3. A threaded Oil Filter adapter to attach to the PVC tubing
4. Two leads and some large alligator clamps if a car battery is used (Or SuperDave & Robertisaar's idea for using an ATX Power Supply that worked out so well with "Frank")
5. A stable plastic mixing and holding container large enough to hold a gallon of special lubricant
6. A Toggle Switch
7. Two or Three Neodymium Magnets
8. A Bifurcated Valve Cover and Cork Gasket (Just a little humor here... I mean for it to be two halves of each item)

Geoff's observation about "the return-recycling" portion of this design will not be required, since all the special oil being pumped through for the engine priming will simply cascade over the valve train and then gravity pour down through the open oil return channels and drop inside the crankcase. When completed, a four quart priming of the system then requires only one additional quart of the mixture be added to the crankcase to top the things off and the engine will be ready for its initial start-up.

[pocket-rocket]

Sweet This thing should rock just as much as FrankInjector does.

[60dgrzbelow0]

Sweet This thing should rock just as much as FrankInjector does.

... I can't WAIT to try this device out... (...as MAX (tkoforpresident) sez... "Stay Tooned...!)

Oh...and in keeping with the "Frankenstein" theme of working on a Mechanical Monster with unsolved design and functionality problems...I think I'll call this thing:

"The FrankenUberLuber" AKA "Oober-Loober" ROFLMAO....

[tkoforpresident]

hahah i was wondering what name was going to be procured for the new device.

I can't wait to see what you can do with this!

[60dgrzbelow0]

Seriously though... An echo of the early and difficult design problems I had with "The FrankInjector Machine" has come home to roost already with our new "Oober-Loober" Project. Have a look at the photos for some comic relief if you will. When I first opened the package for this thing, I thought it was something else I ordered. I burst out a hearty laugh when I discovered that the first and foremost necessary component of this new engine priming device... would fit in the palm of my hand! But then I remembered a passage from Shakespeare's play Henry V: Act 2, Prologue: "...O England, model to thy inward greatness, Like Little Body with a Mighty Heart..." and thought right then I should still conduct a reasonable experiment to thrash out the upper limits of the unit's pumping capabilities. Robertisaar once recommended to me that "Simple... is Best". The final version of "The FrankInjector Machine" was the result of this pursuit of such mechanical simplicity and elegance. I would like to start out on that course here as well.

No one viewing RKO's "King Kong" as a wide-eyed kid would ever suspect that the physics of hydraulics makes the surprise of ever seeing an Ape stand to the height of a five story building quite simply ...impossible. Had the monkey been that tall... as soon as he stood upright and raised his huge arms... all of the blood vessels in his legs would have burst from the sheer weight and hydraulic pressure from the volume of blood in his body weighing down. Likewise... robust as this "Little but Mighty Heart" of an oil pump might be, it's design limitations are described as follows: Output: 3.8L/m Range: 2.5M (8ft horizon). Considering the viscosity and density of the fluid, albeit much less than the mass and specific gravity of water, if I am to use this pump, I need to know in advance of any system build whether it can actually force the oil through every nook and cranny of the engine and truly pressurize the system enough to guarantee a proper distribution and coating protection of all the nested galleries, bearing surfaces and engine parts. If this little pump can handle doing that, then it will also reduce the size, complexity and expense of building the "Oober-Loober" considerably and make the manipulation and use of it in action that much easier.

To that end... when I receive the 25' length of reinforced clear PVC hose, I'll conduct an experiment by submerging this small pump in the bottom of a clean plastic bucket filled with 30 Wt Motor Oil and elevate the attached PVC hose to a height of around 10'. I'm thinking that if this "Little heart" can pump a vertical column of oil to that height... it should have no trouble pumping oil from the bottom of the V-6 engine block up, in and throughout the entire oiling system as well. If it struggles and labours along the way, then I'll know I'm on a Fool's Errand with the notion of using too small a pump and start a new search for a more robust one. I have not given up the idea that even if it has trouble performing, that I might simply elevate the bucket on top of a ladder and augment its fluid pumping pressure with a gravity assist, thereby helping to push the Break-In Oil down the tube and up inside the engine well below the level of the sourcing bucket. We'll see what happens. I'll shoot a video of this/these test(s) as soon as all the necessary components arrive. One other thought... the submerged fuel pumps used inside my F-Body cars are not much bigger than this little pump and they somehow manage to provide around 45 to 50 PSI to the fuel rails for years on end...and their design closely follows this one, right down to the application of a spark-free, brush-less commutator!

[pocket-rocket]

I wonder if it's going to be enough to push oil in between journals and bearings where it's needed. I wonder if mounting a block of aluminum to the top of an actual oil pump with some sort of electric motor (or even a drill) wouldn't be a better idea than that little pump. At any rate, I still think it's going to be a neat idea. I want to get a newer truck this year (2001-2003 Ranger), but if I don't I'm probably going to move on with my project I've wanted to attempt for years now. A DOHC in a Chevette. What ever the end result of this project developes, I'll probably be using on the engine I'll have to build for the Chevette, even though most will probably tell me I'm wasting my time. I've loved the DOHC for a long time, and I beleive it's a potent engine. I wouldn't mind finding how potent in a RWD set up. I would also want to use this on the engine on my stand that's slated to be dropped into the 92 this summer

BTW, Max, I wasn't trying to discourage him, but give suggestions to help make it a better machine. 2 heads are better than one- look how the FrankInjector turned out

[60dgrzbelow0]

Okay... Following on with Geoff's "Bucket" Shop Pre-Oiler information and not wanting to tempt the Engine Break-In Gods by risking any dirt and metal contamination, I decided to include the use of an Old External Fram Cannister style Oil Filter unit to be interfaced between the "Mighty Heart" Electric Oil Pump sunk down deep in a bucket of Test Motor Oil with the long output line from the pump snaking into the in-flow side of the cannister style oil filter and then having the outflow line of a reasonable length attached to the base of a modified oil filter via the new Mobil1/Filter Adapter Plate.

To that end, I'll make this adapter by first slicing the base off of a BNIB Mobil1 Oil Filter and then braze a solid circular steel plate on top of it; pre-drilled and tapped of course, to accept a brazed on brass pipe nipple as the attachment point for the R&R Out-Flow hose. I think it wise to also slip a 3/4" Steel Hex Nut over the brass fitting/pipe and after centering it, braze it in place thoroughly so I have the means to tighten and loosen this Mobil1/Filter adapter plate onto the Oil Filter Manifold attached to the engine with ease, Doing this extra step will prevent me from accidentally snapping off the brass pipe connector during installation and removal because I can get a better feel of how snug the plate sealing rubber grommet should be to make it seal ...but without using too much torque. When it is done...I'll lay several small, flat Neodymium magnets around the outer perimeter of the round steel plate as extra protection to grab and hold from any stray metal mung that might be moved around and picked up in the oil stream from the incoming flow of the Pre-Oiler.

The only other consideration is to make certain that the incoming pressurized oil travels exclusively through the threaded pipe in the aluminium oil filter manifold at the block and cannot be diverted in any other direction or improperly routed through the bypass valve section of that manifold. If that happens, it would defeat the ability of being able to push enough oil under controlled pressure throughout the oil channels and coat the engine parts therein.

In theory ...all I will have to do then is thread the Mobil 1 Oil Filter/Plate centre hole onto the engine block where the normal oil filter would screw in and after a good snug tightening, then attach the reinforced clear PVC outflow hose to it with a S/S screw clamp. When I turn on the electric oil pump, I should be able to see the Pre-Oil/Fluid as it travels from the Oil Bucket ...into the Cannister-Style External Oil Filter...and then out the Out-Flow line and into the Engine Block via the new Mobil1/Filter Adapter Plate. Even at only 3.8L per minute...I should be able to determine if the oil has made its way through the block when I can see the break-in oil percolation out of the push-rods and down the valve train as a regular stream. I'm sure that by very slowly rotating the crankshaft just a few turns while it is being pressurized, the incoming oil will displace any trapped air and very effectively cover the inner surfaces of both the crankshaft and camshaft bearings. After a few minutes, this process should eliminate any dry galleries and allow the hydraulic tappets to sort of "plump up".

Naturally, I'll conduct the vertical pump test first as I previously suggested doing...with the added component of the External Cannister Oil Filter installed. If this "Mighty Heart" can pump the fluid to an elevation of 10 Feet...I'm confident it will properly pre-oil the engine. If this process shows any weakness in the necessary hydraulic pressure.. then I'll abandon the "Little...But NOT so Mighty Heart" of a pump if that scenario prevails and seek another 12 VDC electric oil pump with a more robust pumping capability.

Here are some images of this useful...but antique cannister unit.