I'm going to mess with it some this morning and see what I can do with it. I just hate to have to tear the motor down again. Ronnie

Ronnie, I think all of us have had to pull a new motor back out of something to search for a problem of some kind. You are not the only one by far. It just happens as stated before. Don't be afraid to yank it out. It will only set you back a day or two. No big deal. The car will give WAY more enjoyment when its done than pain building it. You will be able to laugh at all this in a few months.

I checked it this morning and it's not oiling on either side. I ran a drill and it did not pump up. A well known Mopar mechanic local to me said to pull the oil pump and prime it with Lucas and it would fix my problem. He said the pump would have a hard time picking up the oil by it's self. What does everyone think about this? Ronnie

I don't think you are getting the fact that the heads only get oil at 2 certain positions of the camshaft. That's why you have to either turn engine slowly WHILE priming pump, OR find the 2 exact positions the cam must be in to let oil go through it, to get to each cyl head. If you have 50 psi of pressure at test port, the pump is pumping fine.

Is the drill working hard to turn the pump?
When the pump isn't primed, the drill will spin fairly quickly. As pressure start to build the drill slows down. In fact, it can yank itself out of your hand if you're not careful.

If the drill loads up like the pump is working, pull the oil sending unit at the back of the block. Spin the pump again and it should spray oil like Old Faithful.

I understand about the positioning of the cam, but it didn't load the drill at all. It was just a 3/8 drill and it didn't pull it down any so I don't think the pump is primed. I'm going to try priming the pump and see what happens. Ronnie

I had the same issue on my Hemi car that was just rebuilt and after driving myself nuts I finally followed the advise of a friend who had exactly the same problem with his Hemi.

Make sure everything is good on the top end, lube the crap out of the top end with cam lube put on the rocker covers and fire it up.

The top end is the last thing to get oil and on some race cars the oil passages to the heads are blocked off or restricted.

If you have a hydraulic cam and you don't have oil you will know within about 30 seconds.

The #4 cam bearing and the holes in the block are lined up at about 120 degrees intervals if you have 2 lined up it is really difficult to have the 3rd one blind.

I finally bit the bullet and fired the car up and there was oil on the drivers side almost immediately.

Anyhow that is my story.

Best of luck

I know you can't go by the gauges, they are 40 years old and work very sporatic if at all. I guess if your going to mess with these old cars you really don't need to let it get to you so bad. But I'm always learning different stuff on them by trial and error and all the help I get on here. Maybe I'll get it straightened out. THANKS Ronnie

I didn't even think about spinning the pump the wrong way. Make sure you aren't doing that. It does spin counter clockwise.

I vote against 426John's advice of firing it up before you diagnose what the problem really is. If there is a plugged oil passage or that #4 cam bearing isn't right, you're going to cause your poopy situation to get worse and way more expensive to fix. It worked out for that guy but that is pretty damn lucky in my opinion.

I hate to beat a dead horse, but have you tried priming while someone turns the engine over? Everyone is suggesting it but I can't tell if you've actually tried it yet.

Is the oil pump new? You seem to say it doesn't load the drill while priming it. Did the gasket line up right and not block any passages in the oil pump? I guess I'm confused on that one becuase you say it's priming the one side of the engine ok.

Yes, I have turned the motor over as spinning the pump and still nothing. I'm going to prime the pump since I've done about everything else. The oil gauge did move once but I think it was just a fluke because it isn't working and I had moved some wires.So maybe one of these days I can get it figured out. Ronnie

Are you spinning the pump with the drill in reverse rotation. You have to turn the pump counterclockwise.

Running the drill counter clockwise all the time. Ronnie

The last BB I rebuilt I had to losen the oil filter to get the pump to prime. Workd fine once it took a prime. Easy enough to try, although it might make a little mess.

To each his own.

After you have checked and double checked everything to assure it is installed correctly (rocker arm shafts etc.) and run a wire or brazing rod down the oil feed holes on both banks and they are both exactly the same length, primed the motor and you have oil on one bank then you are pretty much faced with 2 choices...

1. Disassemble the engine.

or

2. Fire it up.

If you have any confidence in your work that also plays a role in it.

I convinced my engine builder to put a length of brazing rod down through each oil hole after the bearings are installed and take a digital photo as proof that the #4 cam bearing is correctly installed prior to installing the cam.

It has worked so far.

My buddy completely pulled his Hemi down after the rebuild, cleaned and checked everything, primed it (again) and it still never got oil to the drivers side rocker arm assembly until he fired it up. This is exactly what happend to me also.

If you lube the crap out of it you will not hurt it if you only run it for 30 seconds or so. If the valve train does not make noise and the lifters are all pumped up then you can pretty much rest assured that it is getting oil.

I had primed and turned over the motor so much that the lifters were already pumped up.

Best of luck!!!

FINALLY!!!!! I loosened the oil filter and spun the pump and it went to pumping, I guess it wasn't picking up the oil because of air in it. I didn't get it started because I have got to put it all back together but I think it is fixed now. i want to THANK everybody for all the help and advice with out it I would still be bumfussled. Maybe I can get it back together tomorrow if every thing goes right. Thanks Again Ronnie

What a great read...Hope it turns out ok for you...Great peeps on this site!

THANKS!!!!!! Ronnie