No oil pressure on rebuilt 225

I have read through all the oil pressure/ pump threads I can find. I have a 225 v6, rebuilt by an engine shop. I am ready to start it but and cant get oil pressure.

I tried to primed it for a while with a drill, got light drag on the drill. I have the valve covers off. After several minutes I had no pressure on gage, no oil at rockers, I pulled the oil filter ( it was full) and I could burp oil out where the filter should be by bumping the drill. I pulled the pump (new gears, old timing cover). The oil pump cover was scored so I got a new one along with a TA performance adjustable spring. TA performance suggested looking down into the timing cover cavity for oil in case the plugs were left out. I did not see anything.

I put everything back together, put a second pressure gage on the opposing side port. Ran the drill for a while, some drag. No oil pressure. After a minute or 2 I get the slightest bit of oil visible around the rockers on one side. It doesnt drip, just oil wells up around 2 slots on the rockers. No pressure either gage. Pulled the filter, it was full, I can bump oil out of the filter opening again.

I have gauged the clearance between the gears and housing. As near as I can tell its fine. I get .0055 on the driving side, less on the driven, its hard to check, my regular feeler gages dont like to slide between the round housing and gear.

I think my 2 options are: buy a new timing cover from TA Performance for 190$ or drop the oil pan far enough that pump can still get a suction but I can see in there, run the pump and see if I am poring oil out something, some other unblocked port or a leaky bearing somewhere. Are there any ports which should have plugs in around the crank?

Any other ideas?
Jon

 

did you pack the oil pump gears with petroleom jelly? you mention just using a drill. I just wanted to check.

 

running the drill the right direction?

 

X2 on packing pump

 

Same thing happened on a Ford 390 I rebuilt....put in the new pump dry and didn't wanna pull the pan back off so my g/f's father said to add a couple more quarts then prime it.

that brought the oil level up above the pump so it pushed itself into it, then just hadta drain some of the extra oil back up before vroom vroom .

 

The first time I setup the pump I packed it with vaseline. The second time I did not. Quite a few people say you dont need to pack it if you use a drill to prime. I know it drew oil up the second time, could feel it (and see it once I pulled the filter)

 

There must have been enough residual oil in the pump cavity to create suction. If someone says you do not need to pack the pump cavity with vaseline or similar then they are not familiar with external oil pump engines like used on Buick V-6/V-8's, AMC's, and some other engines. You can't create a suction if that cavity is just filled with air. It won't lift the oil up out of the pan and through the galley's.

 

These are a few check points that I encountered recently.

Need to spin the drill counter-clockwise.
Correct spring pressure on piston? (mine was not long enough and provided no pressure)
Pickup tube screen clean and gasket in good shape?
When it starts to pump the drag will be very noticeable on the drill.
When installing distributor the pump drive must be lined up exactly right or the distributor will not seat all the way.

 

Wait - I don't think counter clockwise is correct. Clockwise worked for me recently. Having an oil pressure gauge helps as you can see the pressure come up.