My '61 Corvette still has no oil pressure.

[David K.]

Additional infoAfter dropping the oil pan and removing the pump, it was tested in a plastic pan filled with oil and showed that it worked perfectly. Reassembly was done carefully
sliding a plastic pan of oil with the pump sitting in the oil under the engine. The pump was lifted out of the oil and reinstalled on the engine and then the Oll pan was also replaced using a new pan gasket. Spinning the pump using a pump priming tool with an electric drill attached, no oil is coming out of the oil pressure gage port on the top side of the engine. i.e. no oil pressure. Tomorrow, I am going to try one more time using a big ass electric drill, it is a monster.


If that does not work, I am seriously considering pulling the motor and tearing it down to see what is wrong….

[Richard M.]

Re: My '61 Corvette still has no oil pressure.

David, maybe you did all of these things but it may be worthwhile to ask to be sure........Don't pull it yet.

-What engine and what oil pump are you working with?

-Is this a rebuilt engine, all new parts, pump, pickup screen etc?

-When you run the drill(clockwise) you should feel resistance apx 5 seconds afterward as it begins to draw the oil. Do you feel that change when running the drill?

-When the pump is installed, did you verify the shaft is properly connected and seated to the pump shaft?

-When you installed the pickup to the oil pump, did you measure to ensure you have apx 3/8"-1/2" space between it and the bottom of the pan? It's tricky to measure but important it has clearance and not resting hard on the bottom of the pan. You also need to account for the slight gasket thickness.

-Did you tack weld the pickup tube to the oil pump, or install a "keeper" to ensure the tube doesn't drop?

-Did you verify that the passage below the oil gauge fitting is clear? Maybe you actually have pressure and it's being blocked there. Remove a valve cover and run your primer drill and see if oil is coming out of the pushrods and filling the rockers.

Rich

[Loren L.]

Re: My '61 Corvette still has no oil pressure.

Oil galley plugs in?

[Roy V.]

Re: My '61 Corvette still has no oil pressure.

[Steven B.]

Re: My '61 Corvette still has no oil pressure.

David,
Does the priming tool you are using have a part that simulates the lower portion of the distributor shaft housing? If it doesn't or it does but not correctly in place, oil will simply pour out of the lifter galleries down into the pan and never make it to the top of the engine.
Steve

[John H.]

Re: My '61 Corvette still has no oil pressure.

Tomorrow, I am going to try one more time using a big ass electric drill, it is a monster.

David -

Is the steel cup plug in place in the block adjacent to the rear main bearing as shown in the photo below? It's usually removed during rebuild, and if it's overlooked at reassembly, the engine will not have oil pressure regardless how big the priming drill is.


blocked-passage-small.jpg

[David K.]

Re: My '61 Corvette still has no oil pressure.

Thanks for all of the feed back. First from the thread I will check to see if the passage is blocked, then from the Melling Video make sure that the filter is full of oil. Lastly it has been many years since this engine was rebuilt but I am quite sure that the cup plug was not installed at the rear many bearing as shown in the photo. All of the other suggestions were positive and were verified and found to be OK with the exception of checking the galley plugs.
I plan to pull the engine Saturday, Nov. 16th and will post to the thread my findings in case there is interest out there in Corvette cyber space.

[Mike G.]

Re: My '61 Corvette still has no oil pressure.

David -

Is the steel cup plug in place in the block adjacent to the rear main bearing as shown in the photo below? It's usually removed during rebuild, and if it's overlooked at reassembly, the engine will not have oil pressure regardless how big the priming drill is.


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You can check for the presence of this plug with a coathanger wire fed down the oil pressure fitting hole in the block on a 327. I would assume your 283 is the same. If the wire goes down more than approx. 12 inches, the plug isn't there. (I have the precise number somewhere, but can't dig it out now). I was paranoid about missing it on a rebuild 15 years ago. I didn't recall ever installing it. I did have oil pressure, but there was a huge debate on whether a missing plug would just bypass the oil filter. The coat hanger wire verified that it was there - my machine shop hadn't removed it because they were still hot-tanking blocks. This year, the same shop did a block for me and took great pains to explain that this plug had been driven out due to the new bake/shot blast process they had switched to.

[David K.]

Re: My '61 Corvette still has no oil pressure.