Patrickt and others. You may like or not like my theories about this but here is what I do before each winter. This was before I started using a accusump as a preoiler to my motors.
I run my motor to operating temp and at 180 degrees a defog the motor with marine
oil fogger kit and let it stall out.
I remove the valve covers and back off both rocker arm assemblies. There is a down side for me on this, I started with a small hydro lifter camshaft with anti pump up lifters, they don't bleed down no matter how long they sat ( 4 months) The following spring, I reinstall the shafts and the lifters would not bleed down even after running the motor for 20 minutes. The valves stayed partially opened, motor ran like crap. I tryed to back off the adjusters and this smoothed the motor out but was getting valve train noise. My repair for this problem was to remove all the lifters, and clean out the
oil in each housing and reinstall in the motor. I didn't have to pull the intake because of the modifications to my single plane manifold. I can slide all 16 out, remove the
oil and reinstall in 30 minutes with a piece of wire and magnet. After lifters drained reset the adjusters on the rockers and the motor starts and runs smooth. I now run hydro roller lifters and have not had the same problem.
Once my motor is cool I drain and install new oil and filter, plug the sidepipes, cover the throttle body, and put the car on jack stands, cover and done.
Spring time was reverse remove covers and side pipe plugs, I removed all spark plugs and put rags over the holes and crank the motor until I got good oil pressure. Install new spark plugs, new fuel in the tank, put battery charger on the battery for jump start, turn on the fuel pumps for 15 seconds to clear all the air from my lines, Start the car. It kicks right off and have oil pressure at this time. With FI, the ECU controls the idle on the motor, I don't touch the gas pedal until the ECU brings down my idle to under 900 rpms. At this time my oil pressure is down under 90 psi. I run 15W-40 oil, 1 bottle of Lucas oil suppliment (Quart) and 1 bottle of EOS.
I did this for 6 years with the 452 motor and raced it all the time. It is not street legal, that is not to say that I have not used a dealer plate and driven on the street. After breaking my first rocker shaft at Gateway I installed the 3 quart accusump. This saved my motor from major bottom end damage and kept oil pressure up to 30 psi until the tank emptied and I was back in the pits. I have kept the accusump in the car and use it before starting the new motor, 482 stroker which is using my 452 shelby block. going on 12years of beating and very happy with the way it has lasted. I am looking for another year before going to the new block in the basement with a 498 build and dry sump setup. I could have used the 452 crank and bearings over in another motor, they where fine without any grooves or copper showing on them. This is rods and mains.
I have talked to alot of top people here on the CC forum and FE forum. Everyone has a different way they think is correct to start an engine after a winter in the garage. Some people don't believe in running accusump on there motors, wet or dry sump. I do. I also run very high oil pressure in my motors with tight clearances. Some of this is due to an Aluminum block. I also run Lucas oil which clings to the motor parts, some guys say this is bad for your motor, I have tested this on my own trucks and have found that they startup quiet everytime. There is a down side of this with O2 sensors and hard towing runs. They loose there sharpness and fuel mileage drops a little. I run 100 psi pump and cold have about 130-135 psi in the motor at 1,200 rpm. I let the motor heatup my itself without any throttle touching or RPM change. 3 minutes and I am ready to move the car. I have my pressure at 35-45 psi at idle 800 rpms. Racing 75-80 psi. I am staying with this until a have a failure of either the motor or oiling system. I am not a luck person, so I over engineer anything I can to extend the live of my motor. I also limit the rpms to 6,200 on any motor. IMO this extends the life of the motor about 40% longer than screaming it. It's about matching, motor to rearend ratio and getting the most power to the ground in a certain RPM range. I try to do the most with the least amount of abuse to the motor and car. IMO I don't believe in low oil pressures unless it's strictly a 1/4 mile race car motor.
Bulk As long as you can check the fuel pressure and have 4.5-5.5 psi going into your carb, I see no problem. I have never tryed to run both a electric fuel pump and mechanical together in the same car. I ran one or the other never both. I was afraid of too much fuel pressure for a carb setup or too much pressure build up between the electric and mechanical. Some one else here my be running this way. Not Sure?? Sorry for the long soapbox speech.This is what I do, it works for me.
Rick L.