installed my engine preluber....

Discussion in 'Technical' started by JEDI-77, Aug 22, 2006.

  1. JEDI-77

    JEDI-77 Jedi Master

    ok, so whats an engine preluber? I'm sure most people know, but that those that dont, its essentially a system that pressurizes the oil galleries before you start the engine essentially preventing a dry start. They either come in the form of electric pumps or pressurized oil accumulators. They're not very popular here in aus, but used quite a bit in the U.S. And as usual there are people who poo poo them who say they are useless and then others who swear by them.... which ever camp you are in, they certainly do no harm to the engine and and at worst you may just waste some money..... hopefully, by the end of my write up, I may convince you that they actually work a treat, especially for an engine like mine which has brief lifter tick at cold startup....

    I bought my kit from these guys:

    http://www.autoenginelube.com

    This is an accumulator system where the oil is stored in a pressurized tank and then released into the oil galleries when you turn the key... how does it work?? The tank is connected to a solenoid which in turn connects to hydraulic tubing which connects to the oil system somewhere, usually the oil pressure sender. The solenoid is only open when the key is on "ON" or engine running.... with the engine running, the oil is forced into the tank. When you switch off the engine, the solenoid switches off and keeps the oil under pressure in the tank. The pressure is determined by whatever the pressure was when you turned the engine off. For our cars, at idle, thats about 30-40 psi. The next time the key is turned back to "on" (before you crank the engine), the solenoid opens, and the oil rushes out to fill the galleries and coat all the bearings etc before you crank the engine....

    So this is the kit. It comes with an accumalator tank, hydraulic hose, fittings, solenoid, pressure guage, screws and bolts, wire, teflon tape, cable ties, and fuse taps. Its quite comprehensive.
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    The kit is quite easy to install, but as usual, we are faced with a cramped engine bay and adding "extra" things isnt easy. I toyed around with installing the tank in the wheel arches (i have no aiv's) or somewhere behind the front bar. But ideally I wanted it somewhere easily accessible and in the engine bay. And so I found this spot here which was the perfect size. It is a space next to the brake master cylinder. In this location I used to have solenoids for the EGR or AIv's, cant remember which. But they are no longer present.
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    The tank fits in quite snugly and I fabricated a bracket to hold it in place. The bracket was bolted onto the now free panel where my old solenoids used to be.
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    and I later painted the bracket black because I'm anal and like things to be perfect..:)
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    The next things was to find somewhere to tap into the oil system. For this I opted to use the location where the american cars have there oil pressure sender, just above the oil filter. On our cars, this location contains a lonely bolt, that when removed, provides an entry point into the oil system. The kit comes with various T piece fittings so I could have used the normal oil pressure sender location, but this was on the other side of the car and didnt want to run the hose that long.
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    At this point, the first problems became apparant. Firstly, although the kit came with a whole bunch of brass fittings, I could get none of the adaptors to screw into the thread where the bolt originally was. They appeared to have the same thread, but under close examination, they were all a tiny bit larger and hence wouldnt screw in. Secondly, the kit didnt really come with any elbow joins to allow sharp right angle turns of the hydraulic hose. In a tight engine bar, I just couldnt bend the hose as required without it crimping shut. All this was fixed by a visit to my local Pirtek store. I bought all the correct adapters and some elbow joins to make the job so much easier. Here you can see the adapter and elbow connection I bought for connection to the oil system. The elbow connection was crucial to allow clearance of the nearby steering shaft and also the exhaust headers.
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    (looking down from top of engine bay)
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    Here you can see the hydraulic hose connected to the brass adapter connected to the engine block and going to the solenoid. The hoses fitting are these "push lock" fittings which screw into the male ends and seem to work quite well.
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    This is the solenoid. Finding a mounting location for this was difficult, but I opted to mount it in some free space under the clutch fluid reservoir (next to brake master cylinder).
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    Once again I made a mounting bracket, and connected this to some sort of metal shield under the clutch fluid reservoir... Hard to see in photo (my bloody grounding wire is in the way), but its mounted quite securely and the pressure guage is easily viewable. To this solenoid is the hose coming from the engine, and on the other end, there is a hose going to the accumulator storage tank.
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    Now that all the hoses were connected, the elctrics had to be sorted out. The kit comes with these little fuse taps which are essentially little strips of metal that slot in behind a fuse and allow a prong to protude so you can connect a terminal to it. Using a test light, I found a fuse (front wiper fuse) that is only hot when the key is on "ON" or the engine is running. You can see the metal fuse tap sticking out of the fuse. From this fuse tap, you run the power wire to the solenoid.
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    I modified the system slightly by installing a switch. There are times when I want to place the ignition on "ON" without starting the car. So to prevent the accumulator from releasing the oil under these circumstances, this switch enables me to bypass the system.
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    This is the system fully installed, with only the accumulator tank being visible.
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    So after all that, does the system work? Well yes it does. This pic is of the oil pressure guage the following morning registering oil pressure even before I crank the engine. The key is placed onto "ON", and within 4-10 seconds the galleries are filled and the guage shows oil pressure. So by the time I have put on my seatbelt and deactivated my ZID, the engine is ready to start. And the best part about all this?? No more noisy lifter clatter at cold startup! The engine starts nice and quiet as soon as you turn the key.
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    So for me, the kit was worth it. This is not a "noisy lifter fix", as I would still suggest replacing noisy lifters when convenient. But it stops embarassing lifter tick at cold startup and has to reduce wear on the valve train components. It also gets more oil onto the bearings and up in the heads before you start the engine. As I said before, people will poo poo the system and say "that the bearings always have a coat of oil on them". But in my case, for an engine that sometimes sits for 4-5 days straight, having pressurized oil galleries before cranking can only be a good thing..:)

    Cheers
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2006
  2. pexzed

    pexzed Forum Administrator

    It's a damn fine idea

    And and excellent write-up.
    Well done!!!!!
    Group buy????? LOL
     
  3. EvZ

    EvZ 1BAD300

    I'm impressed. It looks good. How long does the tank stay pressurised? I'd imagine that after a certain amount of time it would leak down. But I don't know.
     
  4. JEDI-77

    JEDI-77 Jedi Master

    if there is enough interest.....

    I'll look into doing a group buy if folks are keen...:)

     
  5. JEDI-77

    JEDI-77 Jedi Master

    a looooong time.....

    evan, this system is also used on house boats and classic show cars in the states that sit staionary for many months. The tank will remain pressurised for many weeks if not months. The company "autoenginelube" provide a life time warranty on the function of the solenoid so they must be fairly confident that it will work as described for a long long time. I guess time will tell if these statements are true..:)

    Cheers

     
  6. kade_744

    kade_744 has largest member

    Very good read and possibly something i will look into in the future :) possibly a new addition to the tech section?
     
  7. ZWEETT

    ZWEETT Active Member

    I'd be keen for my new motor i will build.

    !!! :D
     
  8. DUB

    DUB BRAMIS Photography

    Excellent write up Jed-ster, the pen is strong in this one :p

    Might pick one up for myself too, looks like the engine bay will have to be pulled apart, AGAIN!!! :D
     
  9. Wizard

    Wizard Kerb side Prophet

    Good write up

    And a good read, oil drain is always a worry when a engine sits idle for some time, but that should take care of the problem.:)
    But time to come clean Jedi, it's really a NOS kit painted black isn't it, you really want to put some of those TT's in their place eh.;) :D :D
     
  10. Gazza

    Gazza Active Member

    Ok I poo poo this post, you didnt say how much it cost you, AND you should of put in a big toggle switch in plain sight somewhere (preferably with a warning sticker) so new passengers can fantisize about what it must do!!:D
     
  11. Shifter

    Shifter Active Member

    So all up

    how much and how long to install? Looks good!
     
  12. JEDI-77

    JEDI-77 Jedi Master

    damn, my secret is out!!

    I was hoping the black paint would disguise the blue NOS bottle...:D :D

    Cheers

     
  13. chewy

    chewy Active Member

    I have an accusump (similar setup) for sale if anyone wants one

    It's a nice shiny alloy one too.

     
  14. JEDI-77

    JEDI-77 Jedi Master

    Costs

    some people have asked me how much this all cost...

    the kit comes in different sizes...... by sizes I mean the size of the accumulator tank.... I bought the smallest one due to space which is 3 x 9 inch. I was told that this size works perfectly for V8 engines larger than mine so thats what I went for. The biggest tank is 4x14 inch but good lucking fitting that in the zed engine bay...:)

    The kit cost me $199 US dollars (its now $189 on there website)
    Shipping was $45 US....

    So all up, $244 US dollars (about $320 australian dollars).

    I also had to buy some extra brass fittings (elbow joins etc etc) which the kit lacked. This cost me another $20.

    AMSoil also make a similar product called the "AMSoiler"..... but the smallest kit retailed for $500+ US dollars. The differences being that the kit came with a buzzer that would buzz when it was "ok" to start the engine (that would annoy me after a while but thankfully you had the option of not installing the buzzer). Also, the accumulator looked nicer (pretty colors). But I couldnt justify spending that extra money for those features..:)

    Cheers
     
  15. zxtt-1

    zxtt-1 mechanically inept

    Nice one Mark, explains the question for the ignition wire a few weeks ago. :)
     
  16. JEDI-77

    JEDI-77 Jedi Master

    hehehe, yep...:)

    in the end, decided not to be lazy opted to run a wire through the firewall..:)

     
  17. JEDI-77

    JEDI-77 Jedi Master

    Group buy price....

    I've been in contact with the manufacturer and if we get a minimum of 5 people, we can get these kits for $152.00 US each ($199 australian). Normal price is $189.95 US ($249 australian). Shipping will also be quite cheap as all the kits will be sent in one box. Let me know if you are keen.

    Cheers
     
  18. MikeB

    MikeB Member

    Keen on group buy

    G'day Mark - great write up with pics here. My NA typically sits idle for long lengths of time inbetween uses. I'm keen for same set-up you have described on your own machine. I presume you could list us the extra fittings as well. Thanks for sharing and offering!

    Regards, Michael.

     
  19. tom@pzp

    tom@pzp www.pzp.com.au

    nice, good setup and is a great idea... i may be interested in a gb :)
     
  20. ltd

    ltd Linux Ninja

    I'll be in for one of those mate...

    Put me down for the GB.

     

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