Triumphrat

tkedge1

hello guys, tkedge1 here, bike is coming along, as a reminder it's a 1967 triumph t120R, putting this bad boy back together, and need some assistance, I just installed my oil tank and added the oil etc, I was certain I had read that I needed to validate the oil pump was working by removing the plugs and kicking it over a few times, to verify the oil was squirting outta the return.... well I hooked it all up, and removed the plugs and kicked it over about 25 times and I got nothing... oil level never dropped, nothing came out of the small hole at the top of the return inside the oil tank... so i'm just double checking with you guys..

that was the procedure right?

thirdbike

It will take more than that to bring the oil down and around and back up again but kicking did help to at least prime the pump. The engine will have to be at least idling for there to be anything closely resembling a return stream at the tank. If you did a full teardown and used assembly lube when rebuilding, you should be able to safely start your engine as it will take more than a moment of two before enough oil returns to the sump so that the pump can send it back to the tank. The big concern is that enough oil gets to the top end when first started. You can disconnect your return line beforehand and prime some oil into the rocker oil pipes before reconnecting and starting. Some oil down the pushrod tubes to lube the cam followers won't hurt either. All this excess oil will drain back to the sump for recovery.

flypa38

Did you prime the pump and crankshaft during assembly? If not it might take a little longer to return oil.
Another way to start oil flowing is to pull the plugs, put the bike in gear, and take it for a walk. Personally it wears me out less than repeated kicking!

Caulky

Mine`s OIF, but to check the scavenge was working, I put 1/4 pint in the crankcase sump and filled the return pipe with oil.
Then reconnected, and a few kicks with the plugs out did the trick.

GrandPaulZ

The crankshaft journals are the most important thing at startup, as long as the assembly was done with a nominal amount of assembly oil/lube (I like Lubriplate).

Simply crack the cap of the oil pressure relief valve and kick it a few times, if oil starts to dribble out, you'll be right as rain.

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Brando

Fit a Morgo uprated oil pump.