I looked over past treads and found a few with bad oil pumps. Here's the problem. I have been redoing my 89 GTA for 5 years now and I am getting down to finishing touches. I have everything back together and ready to try.I primed the engine with a drill and got no oil to the top of the motor. I am told by everyone this is not uncommon. I heard the pump suck up the oil and felt a little drag on the drill. So I started the engine counted to 5 no reading on the factory gauge. Shut it off and checked for leaks of any kind and looked everything over good. I started it again counted to 5 nothing. Stopped again. I pulled the oil filter off and it is full from being primed. I went down and picked up a pipe T and mechcanical gauge to put under the hood. I decided to pull the distributor out and prime the engine again. Nothing in the tube to the gauge at all. Now I am worried! I went down to see my engine builder who is the best in the area and builds dragster,stock car and boat engines and has done it for 30 years. (He built the engine 3 yaers ago and it has been on a engine stand waiting on me ) He tells me sometimes when an engine sets that long the oil pump bypass valve may get stuck when a engine first starts to build pressure and only lets the oil by pass and not build any real pressure. He tells me you can tap on top the shaft once in a great while and it will go back.I tried this and no change. I guess I am going to have to drop the pan and change the pump. I guess it is my fault for waiting so long to start the engine. I wish I had primed it before I put it in the car. Any other Ideas what to do ???

 

Best idea I can come up with is, put the motor together and don't worry about it.

First off, unless you have an oil pump priming tool that includes a "sleeve" to go around the shaft to substitute for a distributor housing, you will NEVER EVER get any oil to the top of the motor, or for that matter, any oil pressure at all. Reason being, the oil passage to the right bank lifters goes RIGHT THROUGH the dist housing, and without a dist in there, you have a MASSIVE internal oil leak; about a ½" diameter one. Look at a dist hsg, and make a note of the 2 raised places near the bottom with about a ¼" wide space between them; that space completes the passage.

Oil pumps are VIRTUALLY NEVER bad. Look at one, and how it's made, and I think you'll see why it's near impossible for it to fail.

Priming a Chevy V8 is a total waste of time anyway. The pump is submerged in the oil, so it gets primed by gravity. If you just pour a quart of oil into the filter, you've accomplished about 90% or more of whatever you would accomplish by "priming", anyway. I don't bother. I think the last motor that I built that I "primed" was probably 30 years ago, maybe about the 3rd or 4th one I built, when I noticed all the oil gushing out that hole down there and realized how worthless "priming" was; haven't had a single lack of oil at startup or oil pump or oil pressure related failure.

 

I did use a tool made from an old distributor. So everthing should be closed off as if the engine where running. It is easy to say it is a waste of time but when you have 5 grand in a stroked motor I don't think it is a good idea just to set there with it running waiting to see what happens. Better safe then sorry in my book. Thanks for the replie just the same.