Real Fiero Tech

What's the "best" assembly lube? I'm putting my Northstar back together and would like some darn good assembly lube to do it. Cam break-in is not an issue since the cams/lifters are used (same as on the old shortblock).

Summit P/N CRN-99004-1 is for a tub of paste-like stuff from Crane. Is this only for new cam flat tappet cam lobes? The blurb says not to use it where it may impede oil flow... does that mean bearings?

Should I just not worry about it?

Also, what's a good source for super heavy duty pipe cleaners for cleaning out the oil holes in the crank (and block for that matter)?

I've heard good things about Royal Purples, but I have no firsthand experience.

Lubriplate?

I've used redline for all the internal work that I've done... King Motorsports swears by it. P/N's: RL-ASSL16 RL-ASSL4 (16oz and 4oz)

POWER LUBE! If nothing else, the name is cool. I've used Redline and Lucas stuff before too...all seemed to work fine except for cylinder walls, consult your piston ring manufacturer for their recommendation. It seems different types of rings like different assembly lubes for proper break in, in my experience.

Bryce

An old customer of mine, Ralph, said that when he used lucas synthetic oil stabilizer as assembly lube he got 3 times the lifespan out of the lifters in bob tasca jr's 3500 horse funny car.

lucky wrote:An old customer of mine, Ralph, said that when he used lucas synthetic oil stabilizer as assembly lube he got 3 times the lifespan out of the lifters in bob tasca jr's 3500 horse funny car.

Interesting... tell me more...

Such as?

Ralph has been affiliated with Tasca, and their racing efforts since Bob Sr built one of the first cobra jet 428's in the 60's. He's in his 80's now, still travels all over the country with Bob jr, as his head mechanic. His words to me literally were "..since we switched to synthetic lucas as an assembly lube, we get 9 runs out of the lifters instead of 3."

Must be losing my mind - swore I replied to this before?

Anyways, I doubt you're planning on using the stuff, but avoid Sta-Lube moly graphite assembly lube - I used some to keep my lifters in their bores and to lube up the cams. It didn't want to smear over the smooth lobes well, sorta beading up. But the worst part is that after tearing the engine down later (main/rod bearing failure due to contaminants in the oil), the stuff was still slathered all over the cam carriers - it does not dissolve. I tried mixing some into some clean engine oil without success. Oh, and it was labeled "Ass Lube", which is another bad omen, heh.

I've had good luck assembling all my shit with Redline assembly lube.

Get 4 tubes of Lubriplate 105, squirt them all into a big mason jar.
add two heaping teaspoons of moly powder, preferably from dow corning
add about 1/4 qt of straight 30w oil, brand dont matter
mix as well as u can
thats what i use to do any motor at work since gm disc. their EOS