oil pump priming '47 Chief

[Fredthecat]

Ready for final oil line connections and oil tank filling.

How do you prime the oil pump on a 1947 Chief 74 with stock '47 cast oil pump?
Thanks

[c.o.]

You may get a different opinion or two but seeing as gravity is your friend, you can disconnect the feed line until the oil is flowing and button it back up. That should flush any air out of the line. When you fire it up, just check and make sure that the oil is burbling back to the tank.

[Fredthecat]

Thanks Cory
That's all I could think of too, but was unsure.

Fred

[tomfiii]

Did you add any oil to bottom end before closing up,also shoot a couple of shots of oil down return line and let sit for awhile first.

[exeric]

I kept a pump oil can handy, filled with the same oil as my Indian. I would pump it into the return oil line in the tank until it started gurgling back. Never failed.

[fillibuster]

I kept a pump oil can handy, filled with the same oil as my Indian. I would pump it into the return oil line in the tank until it started gurgling back. Never failed.

I guess I like the idea of lubing the sump gears with assembly lube, as they would otherwise run dry until they draw up oil from the crankcase. I've also run the engine backwards (on center stand, spark plugs out, in gear, spin wheel backwards) with "primer" oil in the return tube, to lube and prime the sump pump.

On my test stand my 47 pump pulled oil from a pan 8" below the pump, feeding the rubber sump tube with a rattle can top; pour a little, stop, pour a little more, stop, repeatedly,to prove that the pump will "prime" from nothing in the crankcase, to just a little, intermittently. And the gears have at least 75k miles on them.