Low oil pressure in ZL-1

[Alss]

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There is a lesson here. When you build an engine, always pre-lube it on the stand with a priming shaft. May not be able to catch a mechanical problem or assembly error, but a problem like this, or a missing galley plug would have easily been found.

MB

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Did prelube the motor..had 30 psi cold with a drill tought it was good..different story when hot!!!

[HPMIKE]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
There is a lesson here. When you build an engine, always pre-lube it on the stand with a priming shaft. May not be able to catch a mechanical problem or assembly error, but a problem like this, or a missing galley plug would have easily been found.

MB

[/ QUOTE ]

Did prelube the motor..had 30 psi cold with a drill tought it was good..different story when hot!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Not trying to beat you up, but I would have stopped right there. 30 psi cold and you will have practically nothing hot as you found. In any engine, the cold oil pressure will be significantly higher than when hot. You should have seen somewhere between 60-80 psi cold, depending on the internal clearancing. Then the motor would make around 20-40(sometimes higher-alot of variables here), once it warmed up.

Point is if you know that the oil pressure was 30 cold and it will drop sgnificantly when hot, then the 30psi reading was enough cause for concern. When you spin the drill up on the stand, the drill should "kick back" significantly. 30 psi will barely affect a quality 1/2" drill. Hopefully the engine was assembled with a high quality assembly lube. You would be surprised at how well that stuff will lubricate in the event of an issue such as this.

The motor is proabaly fine, especially if you didn't load it down. Glad the you found the source of the problem early. Keep us posted.

MB