ok...I noticed right away I don't have oil pressure...bike has one of the s s oil gauges...before the rebuild it had like 30 at idle...
(1990 softail custom)


after I realized this I did some searching and realized u have to bleed it...ok.


I thought I did but nothing is changing...I just want to double check everything.


on the round oil tank I have...the fitting right in front of the drain plug is the feed, right next to that is the vent( I can see the long tube at the top of the oil tank) and the fitting all the way on the other side is the return.


I took the lines off to make sure I had oil coming out of the tank and I do by the tank fittings but nothing is coming out at the two lines that attach to the oil pump...


my feed line goes from the oil tank to the oil filter to the outer fitting in the pic...is that right?


and the return goes from the fitting closer to the engine on the pump to the tank....


I have the flat head bolt out to bleed the engine....plugs are out...and im cranking engine...how long before oil makes it through the oil filter to the pump?


am I doing this right?

 

well....I found one problem...the feed is supposed to go directly to the pump.. but how about the bleeding is it right what I am doing in the pic?

 

Do you still have the oil pressure switch and does the light go out when you start up?

Assuming it does, crack the fitting loose an othe back of the gage while it is running. Oil is not going to compress and will show in gage pressure, air does comnpress so if you have alot trapped between the gage and the pressure it will most likely just compress and not raise the gage needle

 

well...the way my lines run...does it really matter which is the feed line and which is the return line out of the tank? can the return be the fitting next to the drain? and the feed on the other side of the tank?


I think that's been disconnected by the PO....should oil start flowing out of the bolt that is out?

 

No Pictures, alot to read
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/oil-a...oil-lines.html

 

Another possible source

http://www.bikernet.com/garage/PageV...asp?PageID=384
__________________

 

From another site....

Oil supply hose goes from the fitting on the rear of the tank to the outboard fitting on the pump.

Scavenged oil-hose between the inboard fitting on the oil pump and the inlet fitting on the oil filter.

Return oil-hose between the outlet fitting on the oil filter and the outboard fitting on the front of the tank.

Vent- Hose between inboard fitting on front of oil tank and fitting on crankcase above oil pump.

 

Again - From posting on another site -
Finding good drawings and info for the routing can be a pain...I found an article on hotbike that showed the drawing that I used, it's crude but it made sense to me.

http://www.hotbikeweb.com/tech/0305hb_building_stainless_steel_oil_lines/photo_03.html

Actually this is from a pretty cool article where they go through the process of making stainless steel lines for a project bike.

Hope that helps, it helped me get mine all done and I just fired my motor up last weekend for the first time and it's running great

 

Hope something from what was found helps, again none is my own i copied and pasted from other forums

 

stop -

the line from the BOTTOM of the oil tank is the out to the pump - the pumps in is the furthest to the right that is on the oil pumps extension cap, and that is the in from the bottom of the oil tank

nothing else should be between the oil tank and the oil in on the pump NOTHING

when you have it correct the oil will flow out of the line connected to the bottom of the oil tank ( watch it do that ) at that point connect it to the pumps fitting and you have it primed in 10 min as the oil will find its way to all that is needed to start pumping