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1960 283 chris craft oil pump

tombrancheau

New member
I am restoring a 1960 Ski Skif

I am restoring a 1960 Ski Skiff 21 foot 283 flywheel forward. I am going through the process of starting it as the owner said it ran before abandoning it 6 years ago. I had the carb rebuilt removed the valve covers and proceeded to crank it over . Multiple 1 minute intervals pumping old fuel out as I went. I have still not seen any oil pumping out of the push rods. Is this normal? Do I need to start it and watch because it takes some time and RPM to get the oil pumped through the system or am I missing something.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
"The flywheel end of a Chevy m

"The flywheel end of a Chevy motor is the traditional end of the motor where GM put the distributor. Since the distributor gear is run off the camshaft, and the oil pump is too, the oil pump on these Chevy motors is located near the flywheel side of the motor. Many of the older flywheel forward motors like the 283H which I have in a speedboat, have a particular distributor run off the FRONT side of the motor actually off the transmission housing. On these motors the oil pump is still next to the flywheel.

On the flywheel forward motors, oil starvation is more prevalent because the tilt of the motor is away from the oil pump. WHen the boat is under way this is even accentuated. SBC motors are notorious for need a prime to get oil flowing.

I have a similar motor and experienced the same thing. I opened the valve convers, and poured oil into every place I could find ESPECIALLY down the pushrod holes to be sure the was some oil at the cam followers. Therefore if the motor starts dry and needs a while to get oil circulating, you'll at least have some lubrication and won't wipe out the cam.

BE sure to fill the oil filter cannister before installation.

Also, there is an oil pressure port on the flywheel side of the motor where the oil pressure sender goes. I would think you could pour oil down this passageway, in order to introduce oil into the system from that end, it might help that pump prime itself. In addition, an overfill of oil may help too, but running with too much oil can cause some pretty serious problems, so I offer this as a suggestion on the initial testing, whatever.

Good luck,

P"
 
"I stand corrected (once a

"I stand corrected (once again). THe latest version of the "Chevy" V-8 has its oil pump mounted on the front end of the crank. To ge toil, it has to suck it from the rear of the motor, then upward about 6 inches. I expect bearing wear problems from these things. And there's only two oil galleries. Boo! The 1955 Chevy 265 had three.

Jeff"
 
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