• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

TR Oil Pressure--Generally

Share this page

KVH

KVH

Obi Wan
Silver
Country flag
Offline
I have some oil pressure questions:

Looking up into the engine, I can't see where the oil galleys are or how they function.

Is there really a direct, internal galley leading from the oil pump to the main bearings? I see a galley tube on the block, as well as galley plugs, but I don't see the internal channels for the oil and I'm curious how it all works.

Is there a galley or channel in the middle of the crankshaft?

Finally, a friend says when he rebuilds an engine, he puts a drill chuck on the rod leading from the distributor to the oil pump and spins it until he's sure there's oil pressure.

Does anyone here do that. Any issues doing on our cars. He's a professional engine builder and former machine shop owner. But he works on muscle cars.
 
Check out the front of the engine section of your shop manual. Should be a couple of diagrams there that show the oil's path.

The output of the oil pump goes through the filter housing and into the main oil gallery, that bulge you can see on the side of the block. There are drilled passages from there into each of the main bearings, and into the cam bearings. Actually, when they drilled those passages, I believe they first drilled from the main bearings into the cam bearings, and then the drilling through the plugs you can see on the gallery intersected with the first passage.

The crank has passages from main journals to each of the rod journals. The center main feeds both #2 and #3 rod journals (and there are no passages in the long slanted arms of the crank). The rods also have passages that spray oil onto the cylinder walls.

There is also a drilled passage from the top of the rear cam bearing up into the head and to the rear rocker pedestal, that feeds the rocker shaft with oil.

Spinning the pump on a TRactor motor is kind of complicated, because the drive shaft runs through the oil passage. Since the oil pump is immersed in the oil (unlike other engines), I don't bother with spinning the pump, and instead spin the entire engine with the plugs out until the oil pressure comes up.
 
You friend says he spins the oil pump??
I have rebuilt several engines in my days and tried that once. It doesn't work. The oil pump in the Triumph is a gear pump and as such is capable of delivering over 100 psi oil pressure. Consequently the drill your friend used must have been huge and powerful, a regular 3/8 drill motor ain't got enuf horse. Getting oil to the right places when starting a freshly rebuilt engine is a major concern, as it should be, and that's why guys try spinning the oil pump. I use a 3 gallon pressure container I once found at the dump. I put 2 quarts of oil in it and jury rig the outlet line into the oil gallery near the oil pump and put 60 psi on the container. In a few seconds I see oil pressure on the gauge and oil flowing to the valve rockers. Then I start the engine, bingo instant oil pressure.
 
That's a great jpg and explanation. I'd think that with the plugs out and everything well oiled/lubed at assembly, I can check the gauge for pressure and go from there.
 
cannon said:
You friend says he spins the oil pump??
I have rebuilt several engines in my days and tried that once. It doesn't work. The oil pump in the Triumph is a gear pump and as such is capable of delivering over 100 psi oil pressure. Consequently the drill your friend used must have been huge and powerful, a regular 3/8 drill motor ain't got enuf horse.
Click to expand...

Perhaps the GT6 and TR6 pumps are different, but years ago I slipped new bearings and a pump into our GT6 without pulling the engine. I wanted to prime the lube system so I had our machinist at work make a driveshaft for my drill just for that task. I pulled the dizzy, placed the drill in reverse, and drove the pump with the drill. This was nothing more than a fractional horse 3/8" B&D corded drill. It did bring the pressure up after which I re-fit the dizzy and set the static timing. You don't have to bring the pressure up to 100 PSI to prime the system.
 
To put it another way, once the drill motor stalls, the system is full of oil.
 
No need to spin it. Just pull the plugs and spin it over on the starter until you see pressure (you'll hear the starter note change all of a sudden).
 
Back
Top