Canary94GT

Okay, I've got oil pressure when spinning it clockwise. Ran it for a good 30-60 seconds and easily got 20psi, could have gone further with my drill. However, I pulled the valve cover and did not see any oil moving near/on the rockers but maybe I was not looking in the right place or spinning the drill fast/long enough (I'm supposed to watch the little 1/16th size hole on the top of each rocker, right?).

What do you guys think I should do from here?

JMD

I think you need to look closely at where the oil pump drive shaft engages the distributor. I want to think that either this drive, or the pump drive shaft is rounded off and therefore not turning the pump.

BTW - - GOOD NEWS on the pressure...

Canary94GT

There does not appear to be any rounding on either the distributor or shaft sides. It does seem confusing as to why it has pressure now yet didn't when I ran the engine.

I did spin it counter-clockwise for a bit before I realized I needed to spin it clockwise for the pump to function - do you think this helped at all to flush out the pickup or something?

Should I reassemble it now or check for other things, and is the rocker assembly not showing moving oil (as stated in post above) a concern?

JMD

The rockers may or may not show oil with the engine stopped.

If the pickup was clogged, turning the pump backward may have temporarily cleared the obstruction.

crunchyskippy

EDIT!!! I am sorry, I forgot the inline 6 distributor spun clockwise. I was confusing the V8. My apologies.

Canary94GT

I just reassembled everything and fired her up and had 35-40 PSI of oil pressure

Everything looks and sounds good.

But one more question - Should I be worried about the timing after this ordeal, or should it be fine since I re-aligned the rotor and distributor in the exact spot they were in? I really am not experienced with setting the timing, so it would be nice if I didn't have to

And THANK YOU everyone for your help!!! And for saving me from throwing parts at it (ie oil pump) like I was about to.

No problem Crunchy, it doesn't sound like it hurts much if anything to spin it the other direction - heck, that may have even solved my problem!

TexasAxMan

Crunchy, I think your "error" may have created the solution.

Canary, yes, you should re-set the timing. You only got it back in the same ballpark with your marks. If you can remove the distributor and spin the oil pump, you have the skills, just do it.

mr_velocity

If spinning it backwards cleared the obstruction I'd be dropping the pan and finding out what's happening in there. Having had one of these that lead to the destruction of the 289 in my 66 I'm a little more worried about things.

1slow67

And that ^^^ is why I bought an ARP oil driveshaft for my 302.