Hi all. Help needed! I’m not getting any oil to the rockers after a rebuild. The block was rebored and has new just about everything. The first time I started it, I kept waiting for the clatter to go and it didn’t.

It’s not a pump priming issue. The first thing I did was replace the pump with a new one and primed it the way they specified through the sender hole, plus took out the lifters and primed them with oil as well. The first time round with the old pump I used Vaseline, which has always worked and in hindsight, the old pump was full of oil when removed. The new pump has made no difference. I then bought an oil pressure test gauge and am getting zero pressure. Oil was pouring out the sender hole when I put in the test gauge.

Was thinking a gallery plug may be left out but in the photos I took along the way, it appears they are in place though the photos are a bit unclear. I assume if the plug at the back of the block (which I don’t have a picture of) was left out I’d have oil on the floor.

Are there just three gallery plugs (behind timing gear, in the valley at the front and back of block? It’s a QR block.

Any other suggestions as to what might be going on are most welcome. Not looking forward to pulling it back apart....

I went away from Vaseline as I had it clog the filter a few times. Just used a bit of grease on the gears inside the pump. The problem now is as you've started it with no oil pressure you've possibly already killed the cam. Did it have assembly lube or at least oil on the bearings? Unfortunately Holden V8's have a big deficiency in the way they designed the oil pump, in that you can't use a tool to run the pump easily like a SBC.

When I was a kid I remember putting a rebuilt 253 into a Statesman. It wouldn't get oil pressure either. Turned out the drive gear off the cam had snapped a tooth or two. That engine was toast though as it ran for a minute or two without oil pressure, destroyed the cam.

The set screws GMH used to bolt the pickup to the block are also not high tensile. I’ve had them stretch before and break before the sump went back on (luckily).

Another way to prime the oil pump and fill the oil gallery’s up on Holden V8’s.
Run a pistol drill and socket on the bolt on the end of the cam before you put the timing chain and rockers on. Make sure crank oil pickup and sump is on off course.
It Takes a few minutes to get pressure but once you do, you can definitely feel the difference with the pistol drill resistance once pressure is up.
Guaranteed instant oil pressure once you finish assembling and fire her up.

I use a plain old mechanic's auto syringe ( 1 lt capacity).. fitted with a threaded barb fitting at the hose end.

fill the syringe with oil and fit to pump pressure sender hole, get someone to start engine and squirt oil from syringe into pump body
works 100% of the time for me

They started them on gas. My bet is they had a pump to prime them.

Good info Smitty! The engines were started in the engine plant, with gas attached to where the carby goes. The distributor was set (or set, marked and removed) and the engines then crated or put into the mechanical packs for each car. They weren't started then until the end of the assembly process. Which in the case of say a 1968 Pontiac assembled by GMH in 1970 was over 2 years later. Or a HK 307, may have gone into a HT in mid to late 1969 and it was also near 2 years old.