First start oil pressure

[HealeyBob]

I have a new Blueprint engines 351W that is bored and stroked to a 427 with Holly Sniper EFI. BP has you remove the spark plugs to prelubricate the engine. When turning over the engine without the EFI on, I am not registering any pressure on the Speedhut gage. I wired it using the grey oil pressure wire to the white signal wire on the speedhut sensor. I used the oil temp wire, which is light blue for the 5V reference wire, which is Red on the sensor,r and the black ground to the black ground wire. How long should I turn it over before seeing oil pressure? I am thinking 10-15 seconds, I should see something. The gauge is moving the dial as it should when you first turn the key but stays on 0 psi. Do I have this thing wired correctly? How long should I turn it over to get oil pressure? Thanks

[gbranham]

For what it's worth, I didn't use any of the RF harness wiring for my Speedhut gauges; I used the wires that came with each gauge to home run it from the senders to the gauges. You could try that as a test to see if you get any movement on your Oil PSI gauge while cranking. ***EDIT...Kleiner mentions below the gauges get no power while key is in crank position on ignition switch*** I don't use the starter to pre-lube; I remove the distributor and spin the oil pump via the oil pump shaft counterclockwise with a drill. It'll be abundantly clear in seconds if you have oil pressure, because weaker drills will struggle. If you're worried about getting the distributor put back in correctly, simply put a witness mark across the shaft and block, and mark where the rotor is relative to the distributor housing. Easy.

Greg

[Dgc333]

I too take the distributor out and use a drill. I also remove the valve covers and watch for oil coming out of the push rods. Sometimes you need to rotate the crank shaft about a 1/2 turn before you see oil on both banks. With a Hemi or an LS I used a garden spray hooked to the oil pressure sensor port to pump oil through the system.

[Jeff Kleiner]

You won't see any pressure when cranking because with the Ron Francis harness power to the gauge circuits is dropped with the ignition in the "crank" position. Without power obviously the gauge won't show anything. If you want to verify run down to the hardware store, HD, Lowes or whatever and pick up a mechanical gauge then screw it on in place of the sender.

https://www.homedepot.com/pep/Everbilt-100-PSI-Pressure-Gauge-with-1-4-in-Lower-Connection-EBM1002-4L/205617969?source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&pla&utm_source=google&utm_medium=vantage&utm_campaign=62070&utm_content=64601&mtc=SHOPPING-RM-RMP-GGL-D26P-Multi-NA-EVERBILT-NA-PMAX-NA-NA-MK717039001-62070-NBR-22048-NA-VNT-FY25_Q1_Q4_ASHLANDWATERGROUPINCEcoFloProductsIncD2 6P_RM_ES_AON_BAUOpportunity&cm_mmc=SHOPPING-RM-RMP-GGL-D26P-Multi-NA-EVERBILT-NA-PMAX-NA-NA-MK717039001-62070-NBR-22048-NA-VNT-FY25_Q1_Q4_ASHLANDWATERGROUPINCEcoFloProductsIncD2 6P_RM_ES_AON_BAUOpportunity-22479591052--&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22479614284&gbraid=0AAAAAolLu9-7MxD-7SB3al5fIoLIoGFhQ&gclid=CjwKCAjwmenCBhA4EiwAtVjzmpQvh46HuxFQ6zHb7yWC 5agmWPfvHeNzr3EGEMyp8CXJd1JeSnbVPhoC4J4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Jeff

[JMD]

I also ran all gauge wires directly to the sensors instead of through the wiring harness. Just used the power from the wiring harness for the gauge lights. The simpler you can make things with the fewest number of connections, the better. I would speculate the chance of having no oil pressure in a new BP engine is extremely low...you can almost be certain the problem lies elsewhere, but still prudent to play it safe.

[HealeyBob]

I bought a mechanical gauge and will try it tomorrow. Thanks for the inputs.

[johnnybgoode]

I bought a mechanical gauge and will try it tomorrow. Thanks for the inputs.

I can usually get 40+ lbs of pressure on the starter with my 351/414W which has a standard pressure/volume Melling pump and 10W-40 oil. It takes about 5-10 seconds once the motor is primed. Scott

[Jim Doak]

I had the same issue with my BluePrint engine during my first start in March. As Jeff said, the Speedhut gauges don't indicate during the start cycle.

I figured that was the issue during my first start; couldn't reach Speedhut to confirm, but since BluePrint dynos each of their engines I decided to proceed and re-connected the ignition system and started the engine. Took a couple of seconds but the oil pressure gauge registered 40+ psi.

[rich grsc]

ZERO need to prime the oil on a BluePrint engine. They test run every engine, so it's already been primed. Put gas in it and start it

[FLPBFoot]

ZERO need to prime the oil on a BluePrint engine. They test run every engine, so it's already been primed. Put gas in it and start it

Just got my BluePrint and they do drain the oil before shipping.....Add the recommended quantity and then as Rich says.....gas and start.

[CraigS]

You could pull a valve cover and crank the engine as you are doing. No # to see but put a towel over the head and when it starts getting spotted w/ oil at least you know oil is flowing in the engine.

[HealeyBob]

I bought a mechanical gauge and it shows 50-60 psi pressure. All good for first start tomorrow.