Priming oil on 4.6 Rover V8

[craggle]

Hi all

I am half way through doing some repairs on my 1997 Range rover. This involves a new cam shaft, Timing chain, push rods, Lifters, Rockers and rocker shafts.
After spending an entire day just removing enough bits to get to the cam shaft I am now at the stage to re-assemble.

This engine is the later 4.6 or serpentine belt engine and it has a crank driven oil pump. I have drained the oil cooler as well so on initial start it will be without oil for some time. Does anyone know if these oil pumps can be primed or not.
I have used copious amounts of Comp Cams lube on all the new parts.

I will post pics some time of the cam and the lifters. 106K miles and it is well and truly knackered.

Cheers

Craig.

[chesterak]

Reassemble everything, remove the spark plugs and whizz the engine over until the oil light goes out, this pump will self prime easily.

[craggle]

Cheers Stan

I got it all back together today and spun it over for a short while as the oil pressure light went out almost straight away.
Once the plugs were back in It started instantly and apart from a few seconds of rattly tappets it sounds lovely. I followed the normal cam break in procedure and will take it for a run tomorrow.
Hopefully it will feel a bit more powerful now as I measured the cam earlier and the biggest cam lobe is 2mm bigger than the smallest one! I thought it was worn but not to that level. The timing chain was also very loose and the cam could be moved about 3 degrees each way.

Craig.

[darren]

Replaced my cam on 3.5l after it had done 99K......on 2 cylinders there was no cam, the shaft just went round and round with no effect on the valves.

Nice

[craggle]

My whole engine was in better condition than I thought it would be. The previous owner got it serviced according to Land Rover service intervals and I think the oil needs changing a lot more often than they say. The inside was black but not sludgy at all. The cam was not as bad as I thought either.
I have seen 3.5 cams with nearly no lobes left. Maybe the newer cams are made from better materials.
The rocker shafts and rockers were also worn and the push rods were loosing their shape on the end.
Glad I did it but I wont be volunteering to do any more. There are far too many bits to remove before you even manage to get the cam out.

Craig.

[darren]

Oh yes, forgot to mention, I could almost take the timing chain off without removing the gears first....now that's slack!!!

Engine top end was thrown away and replaced, bottom end was spot on and needed no work.

[craggle]

It's amazing how bad the old Rover V8 can get and still run.

It's also amazing how messy they can get underneath after 10 years and 100K miles. I think the black finger nails will be with me for a while yet.

Craig.