No oil pressure

I am almost finished with my flatty's Dauntless V6/SM420 conversion and today, after getting the radiator in I decided to fire her up. To my great surprise the dauntless started almost immediatley but I have no oil pressure.

I purchased this motor as a running engine but decided to freshen it up before I put it in. I replaced all of the rod and main bearings and rebuilt the oil pump among other things.
The pump was rebuilt with a NAPA kit and the timing cover checked out fine. I also packed it full of vasoline and put as much oil as I could in the filter before I spun it on. I did get a little too excited about hearing her run so I forgot to pull the dist. and prime the engine but this thing ran a full 2 minutes before I realized that I had better check the oil pressure.

Anyone have any suggestions?

I am heading back to the shop now to check the oil gauge line for any obstructions but I have my doubts.

 

Just pulled the dist. to prime it. Noticed that the dist gear has plenty of oil on it so m aybe I do have pressure, it may only be the gauge. But this is the same gauge that has worked great all last year,

 

Same thing here. Do you have the correct spring n the oil pump??

 

the valve train would have been making a lot of noise if no oil pressure.
do you recall any noise ?

 

Thanks for the advice guys. I ended up priming the pump with a drill and now I have about 4 lbs of pressure at an idle and 25 lbs when I rev it up. I have ordered the repair plate and hope that brings the pressure up.

By the way, I learned the hard way that when changing from a 1971 to a 1972 bellhousing, don't forget to put in a 1972 throw out bearing. The engine is hanging on the hoist and the correct bearing should arrive tomorrow.