[glase]

Here's a nifty tool I McGuyvered. I recently bought a 69SS/RS with a freshly rebuilt engine and many parts, including the distributor, in boxes. So, I had to buy or make a tool to spin the oil pump for pre-oiling of the engine. I also underwent a fair bit of grief in lining up my distributor. Many thanks to Team Camaro for helping me figure all that out.

The McGuyver tool serves as a pre-oiler and inspection tool. Here's what it is.

First, start with a chunk of 1/2" copper pipe and an old bolt with a 9/16" head.

Then, drill the end of the pipe and cut a short piece of a nail (3" spike). Hammer the nail to round it off on both sides (make sure it is very secure). It looks like this. Now the nail is the perfect size to sit on the oil pump - and it won't slip off.

Now on the other end of the pipe, pre-bend some kinks into it with some sidecutters, then gently hammer the bolt into it until there is a nice fit. Result is:


Then, stick the bolt threads into a drill and spin the oil pump to your heart's content.

Now the cool part. A while ago I bought an inspection scope off eBay for about $100. Needed it to check for skunks under my front porch. Kids also loved it because they could see what the inside of their nose looks like. It plugs into a USB port in a laptop and it shows the live picture on the screen. I don't know how I lived so long without such a tool. I checked just now on eBay and the same scope is not there, but if you look around they are available.


Now it so happens that it is just the right diameter to slide down the 1/2" pipe. So, when it came time to turn the oil pump ever so slightly, I just put the scope down the McGuyver tool and I could perfectly see when it had seated on the pump.

Enjoy!

[arocars]

Nice info. Thanks.

[Vintage 68]

Originally Posted by glase

... The McGuyver tool serves as a pre-oiler and inspection tool. Here's what it is.
...

You could use it to 'align' the tang to the distributor shaft - BUT, it will not make a satisfactory "Pre-oiling" tool
A "real" pre-oiler needs to seal off the oil distribution passages in the back of the block to properly provide pressure flow to the upper areas of the engine (can bores, etc...).
That's what those wide machined areas below the collar on the distributor shaft do
That's why we used to cut down an old distributor to use to pre-oil - back-in-the-day of course, now you can buy one
Without those areas to seal the bore you are just 'pi$$in' in the wind, as the majority of the oil you're going to all the trouble to pump-up is just falling back down the empty hole into the pan

Hope this helps prevent any issues with someone trying this tool...

[KMG69]

Originally Posted by Vintage 68

You could use it to 'align' the tang to the distributor shaft - BUT, it will not make a satisfactory "Pre-oiling" tool
A "real" pre-oiler needs to seal off the oil distribution passages in the back of the block to properly provide pressure flow to the upper areas of the engine (can bores, etc...).
That's what those wide machined areas below the collar on the distributor shaft do
That's why we used to cut down an old distributor to use to pre-oil - back-in-the-day of course, now you can buy one
Without those areas to seal the bore you are just 'pi$' in the wind, as the majority of the oil you're going to all the trouble to pump-up is just falling back down the empty hole into the pan

Hope this helps prevent any issues with someone trying this tool...

Bingo!

[Fred Ficarra]

Originally Posted by KMG69

Bingo!

And a royal flush too! Sorry you went to that trouble glase. Don't use your tool. Just feel good that your brain works well,,,and,,,,,that it works well enough for peer review here. And the right tool is even easier to build. Any old Chevy V8 distributor. Remove the drive gear by driving out the roll pin. Then take the weight assembly off the top and chuck it into your 1/2 drill. Don't skimp on the drill. It has to do WORK.

Edit. Just remembered this one. Many years ago I was trying to solve an oil pressure problem on my brand new 1974-build LT1. After checking everything I took it to a friends house (in my ski boat) who had an old distributor. We were gonna spin the pump and look under the manifold. When I removed the manifold the test stopped. There it was! The block hole for the distributor was double drilled. It looked like a Mastercard trademark. That's what I got for ordering a 'parts' block.
The guy that was running that particular boring machine didn't check to insure the block was centered on the jig. After the hole was drilled, it was time to move to the next stage and that's when his mistake was evident. Now what does he do? The engine can't be assembled and it'll come back to haunt him. Simple. Re-jig and re-bore. Of course all he had to do was yell 'parts!' and it would be my problem. He did. And I had a lot of work done to that block in a machine shop. Nobody caught it!

[glase]

.... should stick to my desk job ...

Anyways - too late because she's already running. Hopefully there was minimal or no damage. Thanks guys.

Car is pretty much done by the way. I'll post pics.

[KMG69]

Originally Posted by glase

.... should stick to my desk job ...

Anyways - too late because she's already running. Hopefully there was minimal or no damage. Thanks guys.

Car is pretty much done by the way. I'll post pics.

Nah, you can never be too ingenious, you'd be suprised at what I got done with a big hammer and punch last weekend. Can't wait to see some pics!

p.s. I was not knocking you're tool

Ken

______________________

[Vintage 68]

Originally Posted by glase

.... should stick to my desk job ...

... Hopefully there was minimal or no damage. Thanks guys.

Car is pretty much done by the way. I'll post pics.

I have a 'desk' job to ...

I really doubt you hurt the engine in any way - certainly not by spinning the oil pump
"Pre-oiling" engines for many years wasn't the SOP it is now - and it's still not done by thousands of folks doing rebuilds, and their engines last just fine.

I really was trying hard to parse my words correctly so it didn't look like I was bad-mouthing you efforts - it's really hard to have that come through clearly in this medium
I can assue you that was never the intent of my reply.
I was trying to correct the assumption that it could be used to effectively completely oil an engine - specifically the upper oiled areas of the block.
It would however make a "killer" pump slot alignment tool - dang near as good as my 'mile-long' Snap-On screwdriver I use for that ... (that was in jest also )

Keep thinking through your automotive work and inventing cleaver ways to get around obstacles
I'd almost be embarassed to have someone look through my 'special tool' drawer, there are quite a few wierd contramptions in there - but hey, they work for me

John

[NHBandit]

I also have been using an old distributor with the gear removed for close to 30 years and as far as lining up the shaft prior to dropping in the real distributor all I have to say is why ? Get it close and if it dosn't drop right in simply turn the engine a little bit until it falls in the rest of the way. As long as you have the rotor pointed very close to where it should before you start I can promise it's not gonna jump up out of the hole and end up being off. It ain't rocket science guys.. Very creative glase. I commend your good intentions and attention to detail. I'm sure your engine will be fine. As far as my home made tool from an old distributor goes, with my luck I probably made it out of a perfectly good L88 distributor or some such thing that was worth nothing 30 years ago when I made it but is now as rare as hens teeth and twice as valuable.. I can remember buying Chevy TI ignition distributors and amplifiers for next to nothing back in the day to run in my racecar and the speedshop I worked at in the mid 70s had piles of Corvette tri power setups they couldn't give away because everyone was taking them off and replacing them with single 4 barrels because they were "too hard to tune"

[Melrose RS]

Originally Posted by NHBandit

I also have been using an old distributor with the gear removed for close to 30 years and as far as lining up the shaft prior to dropping in the real distributor all I have to say is why ? Get it close and if it dosn't drop right in simply turn the engine a little bit until it falls in the rest of the way. As long as you have the rotor pointed very close to where it should before you start I can promise it's not gonna jump up out of the hole and end up being off. It ain't rocket science guys.. Very creative glase. I commend your good intentions and attention to detail. "

I'm with you on this one Bandit. And while we're at it, all the questions you hear about being 180 out or not, Turn the crank and Just watch the valves - #1 intake goes down, comes up, then bring up the balancer to the timing tab "0" = #1 TDC. Can't go wrong.

[glase]

Glad to hear I likely didn't screw anything up. I had a similar adventure with brake bleeding. All the brake lines were new. I bench bled the master cylinder. Then I gravity bled, then I had my son exercise his right foot several hundred times. Nowhere close to getting a good bleed. So I read a lot about different bleeding methods and I went out and bought a manual vacuum pump.

After exercising my right hand several hundred times pedal still very soft. So I read some more and built a pressure bleeder:


The goopy stuff is a putty roll I had left over from an undermount sink installation. I secured the wood plate to the top of the master cylinder with two wood clamps. Then, with the bottle filled with brake fluid I was able to pump the fluid into the master cylinder with a perfect seal. It worked great. However, still soft pedal. Then realized ........... I had installed the front calipers on the wrong sides!! I had the bleeder screw on the bottom! HAH! Me a stupido.

[Melrose RS]

We all make mistakes. It's part of the process... it feels good when you figure it out, though!

[Fred Ficarra]

Lordy, I love this web site! Where else do you get this kind of information? Thanks Ed!

[NHBandit]

Originally Posted by Melrose RS

I'm with you on this one Bandit. And while we're at it, all the questions you hear about being 180 out or not, Turn the crank and Just watch the valves - #1 intake goes down, comes up, then bring up the balancer to the timing tab "0" = #1 TDC. Can't go wrong.

One of my all time favorites is when someones engine was running perfectly and suddenly develops a skip or starts running rough. One thing ALOT of them will do is start checking the firing order even to the point of pulling off the plug wires and reinstalling them just "to be sure" Yeah OK... someone broke into your garage and swapped the plug wires around just to mess with your head. Or maybe the wires jumped off all by themselves and landed back on the plugs but in the wrong order... Common sense isn't so common anymore...

[zman1969]

I made a pre-luber out of an old 480 distributor, I took off the gear and junked the points ect took the top of the shaft off and pressed on a castle nut and welded it to the shaft. so just drop it in hit with electric impact(it will kill a 3/8 drill) run it for a couple minutes till the rockers are lubed and your good
just kidding about using a 480 distributor