I'm about to drop in a freshly built-up motor into my Civic tomorrow (D16Y8 motor), but I was wondering how I might go about circulating oil throughout the engine BEFORE I start the car. I remember from auto class that on domestics, you can just use an electric drill to operate the oil pump before the motor's started. Since our motors have oil pumps driven directly off of the crank, is there any feasable way to circulate the oil before starting it? I was just going to fill the motor with oil by pouring the oil throughout the top of the head and letting the oil find its way down to the pan...

 

All that you have to do to prime the oil pump in a honda is crank it over without having the spark plugs wires connected.
Just crank it over a few times, and it obviously wont start, and it should be primed up and ready to go for you.
After that you can put your plug wires on.

Later,
BR

 

Whirl it over until the oil light goes out. I usually take out the spark plugs too. Don't forget to disable the ignition system or ground the coil wire so your coil doesn't die.

 

Well, I was thinking of doing it this way initially, except I had wanted to get the oil flowing without the pistons moving... I guess there's no such way!

Thanks though for the input!

 

When I do a new honda motor, I remove the valve cover and coat all the valve train with the first quart of oil. I also coat the cylinder walls while its upside down on the engine stand. Also, while upside down, i pour some oil down the oil pump pickup tube to lube the gears of the pump, that helps it reach pressure faster the first time.

Once I get it in the car, I crank it over with the spark plugs removed so it spins really easy. I do about 3, 10 second cranking sessions before I hook the plugs and ignition up. You will get pressure right away when you fire it.