Hello to all: I got an engine for my 65 from a parts car the engine was running fine when I pulled it. I resealed everything before putting it in my car, got it running again and I now have no oil pressure, I have been told I could prime the pump by removing the dist. and use a drill.
Is this right or is there another fix? Hope someone can help me out. Thank you. Barry.

Hi Geniv:
Yes, you can buy a shaft to hook up to a drill and prime the pump that way, or go to an auto wrecker and get an old distributor and use that shaft. Make sure that your sending unit is ok and hooked up. I like to hook up a true oil pressure guage to see where it is at, instead of relying on the original one. Hope this helps.
Rob

You will be able to "feel" the resistance in the drill of the oil pump once the oil is flowing. You would be able to "hear" an oil starving problem too when the engine was running and the gauge said no oil pressure. Double check the need to prime before taking too many more steps.

Thanks for the help, I started the engine 3 times, running about 8-10 seconds each time. The oil light did not go out and the third time I started it some tappet noise was there. I am hoping that I did no further damage. I think priming the pump is my only choice at this point????????
Barry.

If the drill runs with no resistance, you will know you did the right thing becaue you had no oil pressure. Hopefully, after not too long, you will hear and feel the drill drag a little and that is when you'll be sure to have oil pressure. You can always pull a valve cover, but I think if you feel the "pressure" in the drill and keep running it for a minute or so, you should be fine. Nailheads are not that delicate, in my opinion.

Thanks guys for the tips, I pulled the dist. today ran the pump with a drill, put the dist. back being sure to line everything back up to the marks I made before removal. The engine now runs fine, No tappet noise, all is good.
Regards Barry.

Hi Barry,
I`m entering the discussion a little late but what most probably happened is you never indexed properly into the oil pump drive shaft with the distributer shaft. Unless the mounting flange on the dist body is completely seated you may not have been driving the oil pump. Sometimes, even while aligning marks, the dist body needs to be rotated until it snaps down into the oil pump drive shaft properly. Good to hear things worked out. Running for a minute or two without oil pressure and no load shouldn`t hurt anything, good you were paying close attention on start-up!
Tom Mooney