Help no oil getting to the valvetrain
 

currently working on a friends 1969 mach 1 390 and am having issues with the car running. Initially the car ran fine but because we did not have a rad or coolant in it we waited until the motor stuff was done. Now ith the exhaust on and jumping the coil we are able to run the car but it only has 10 inches of vacume and we are talking about a fresh rebuild here. I did a compression on one cylinder and got 110 lbs and for a fresh motor I thought it was really low . Now the problem is its running like there is no oil pressure I pulled one valve cover and there is no oil coming to the rockers at all. I have since taken outthe dist and spun the shaft for the pump and it had resistance but still nothing on the valves . I am puzzled here as to what could be the problem and is it too late for the motor as it has run for about fourty five mins so far and help would be great thanks

http://www.mre-books.com/interchange/interchange11.html

Here is a good article.Hope this helps!

how did you turn the pump shaft
 

1) do you have an oil gauge that you could use and attach to the engine to get an indication as to whether there is any oil pressure at all ? I usually keep an old one in my tool box. chances are you have a buddy that has an old one lying around. if there is some pressure then there's a good chance the main bearings didn't get damaged.
2) when you spun the oil pump driveshaft manually, did you use a drill, or by hand. You must use a drill and let it run for about 2 minutes. if after two minutes you still don't have oil getting up into the valve train then something is wrong (as I'm sure you know). Did you turn the pump the right way ? this is a common mistake people make with drills.

Try the oil gauge 1st before taking out the engine and dropping the oilpan to check the bearings visually.
If the oil gauge shows some pressure (40 lbs +) then pull the valve train off the heads, remove the intake and start checking things.

mach1steve

check the oil pressure, try the oil pressure gauge.
it is a common mistake.