Can I tap the feed and drain lines to the oil pan and simply hook them to the firewall for a day or two at most and then hook them up to the blower? I would think at worst I may need to cap the feed line, but the drain line wouldnt be pushing oil out since it uses gravity to drain. Is it O.K. to do that?? Im having a guy at GM with access to a lift do it for me and we will also be doing the inline fuel pump at that time. I dont want to take the chance getting metal chips in the oil pan and destroying the motor and blower in one shot.

 

Well don't plan on spinning the blower w/o oil in it...it'll seize up.

 

No I wouldnt do that. Im just wondering if I can have the lines there, but not installed in anything until Wed or Thurs when I can do the rest.
On a side note. It doesnt say anything about how to get some oil into the blower before initially firing it up. Do they have some in there initially???

 

How is the oil supplied to the blower?

You may have to crank the truck to build oil pressure with the belt off to get oil to the blower...that's what I do on turbo swaps just crank it but don't start the vehicle until there's oil in it.

I don't know about the lines...

 

just loop the oil lines until you get the blower installed.

 

Thats a good idea
Im curious about the initial oiling of the blower now. I'll reread the manual. This will be 82 I think. I should have this memorized word for word by Mon.

 

I would think you could attach a rrurn line to the blower head unit and fill the blower through its' feed opening. But cranking the truck over with no plugs in it and no belt on the blower sounds like a fine idea.

 

Do you mean connecting the feed and simply funnelling some oil in that way?? That doesnt sound like a bad idea. Im a little lost as to the no plugs Idea . Im curious if the blower would have oil fed to it if the pulley were bypassed. The feed line is hooked into the block above the oil fliter so maybe that is a pressurized source ?? I know the install like the back of my hand, Im just not sure as to how the oil is routed to the blower. Maybe the blower has to turn to create the vacuum for the oil?? Would it hurt anything to just funnel a few oz of oil in there?? I dont see why not, most blowers come with there own stand alone oil supply. Thanks

 

I'd be willing to bet that vortech puts assembly lube on anything that might need it. Even if they dont, I'll bet it'll only run dry for 1-2 seconds. That wouldn't be long enough to hurt anything. Does the manual say anything about priming it?

 

Ok, the feed line comes from a pressurized source.
Take out your sparkplugs and engage the starter so the motor spins and builds oil pressure but does not start. With the feed line connected to the blower and the block, and the return line connected to the blower, spin the engine, the return line should have oil coming out of it when the blower is properly lubricated. Catch that oil and put it back in your tahoe. Connect the return line and then the blower should be lubed.

That is one way of doing it that I can think of.
The other would be to simply funnel some oil in to the housing.