383 spun main?

[RebelRider]

You put a little oil or lightly greased pump internals?

I used oil.

 

[PRHeads]

If the gasket for the relief valve cover is damaged, they can be difficult to prime.
Or damaged o-rings between the cover and pump.
Was there an o-ring on the stub that slips into the block?

A crack in the oil p/u can also prevent the pump from priming/working.

Shaft spins CCW.

You pulled the covers and verified there are no lifters out of their bores?

 

[RebelRider]

All rings seemed to be good including the large one within the pump housing. I will pull the covers next.

 

[Fran Blacker]

I changed oil on my car once, a BB removed the filter and screwed around for a couple hours. Came back put a 1/4 full filter on added oil to the engine. Started engine 30 seconds no oil pressure, shut it down. Removed dist and the drive crank up electric drill na da. removed oil pump added STP to pump put it back on hit the drill Oil pressure.

 

[Ernie ingling]

Be sure relief is seated maybe dumping oil back in pan if good pack pump with Vasoline i do this on most rebuilds

 

[RebelRider]

Thanks guys. I’ll report anything new. I’m hoping it’s something obvious that’s also tied to the initial sound I heard. I’d rather not 2 separate issues.

 

[RebelRider]

Well damn......I can see the lifter on it’s side in the bottom, but the rod is hiding somewhere below.

 

[Fran Blacker]

That valve keeper looks funky?

 

[fratzog lover]

Valve cover removal answers so many questions. That's why it is one of the first things to check on an engine that is acting up. And it only takes a few minutes.

 

[RebelRider]

That valve keeper looks funky?

At one time, I thought the long quick change wing studs were cool on valve covers.

Valve cover removal answers so many questions. That's why it is one of the first things to check on an engine that is acting up. And it only takes a few minutes.

True, but the sludge and dent in the pan needed to be addressed.

 

[fratzog lover]

At one time, I thought the long quick change wing studs were cool on valve covers.


True, but the sludge and dent in the pan needed to be addressed.

Here's to hoping you are up and running soon!

 

[PRHeads]

Well....... you def don’t get any oil pressure with a lifter out of a bore.

Yes...... I do know this from experience.

Actually...... on a running motor it wasn’t quite “zero” oil pressure on the gauge.
At 1500-2000 rpm it lifted the needle barely off the peg.

 

[RebelRider]

Here's to hoping you are up and running soon!

Well....... you def don’t get any oil pressure with a lifter out of a bore.

Yes...... I do know this from experience.

Actually...... on a running motor it wasn’t quite “zero” oil pressure on the gauge.
At 1500-2000 rpm it lifted the needle barely off the peg.

Thanks. I’ll have to pull the valley pan and intake to check the extent of the damage. My dad and I were talking and we are a little concerned of the condition of the cam.

 

[PRHeads]

The bottom of the lifter is “usually” a good tell tale about the condition of the cam.

 

[33 IMP]

I have two responses to the tossed lifter/no oil pressure problem.
I had too short pushrods in my first solid roller cam motor, and an adjuster broke, tossed a lifter out, and the tie bar turned the other lifter sideways, chewing up the cam. The regrind gained about ten degrees duration, lost more than .100 lift, and lost 1/2 second e.t. (slowed down).
On the other hand, a friend bought a duster with a warmed up 440,727,d60 with a bad miss, and no oil pressure, for 25 cents on the dollar for what the car was worth. Yep, pulled the intake, put the lifter back, replaced the bent pushrod, went elevens.

 

[PRHeads]

My first experience with the tossed lifter was the result of a pushrod getting shoved waaay through a rocker...... then the lifter just got chucked out of the bore.
Street racing a friend of mine when it happened.
I didn’t really know what happened........ but there wasnt any funny noises.
Once I saw the oil gauge needle was in fact coming off the peg, I decided to drive it the 15 or so miles home.
Back streets and side roads....... at just above idle.

The next day after work I pulled the v/c, saw the pushrod sticking out of the rocker..... and realized why there was no oil pressure.
The lifter was just laying in the valley, so I reached in with a magnet and got it back into the bore.
Dug thru my stash and came up with another rocker/pushrod..... put it back together and was back to wailing on it in no time.
Didn’t seem any worse for the wear and tear.

 

[RebelRider]

And the saga continues.......
The cam looks ok at the first glance. I just need to figure out what caused this. I don’t want to repair it and have it happen again.

 

[PRHeads]

Well, the lifter with the racing stripe wasn’t turning, so that was a failure waiting to happen.

There was no mention of “rev tuning” the motor...... so I’m going to assume there wasn’t any valve floating going on.

I’d be looking at things like.....spring coil bind, retainer to seal clearance, cam is installed way off and you had v/p clearance issues, you have stiff springs and the pushrods are junk, etc.

If the pushrods are a length where there was almost zero lifter preload........ with some of the lobes at near full lift at shut down...... the springs will collapse the lifters....... and upon start up when the lifter drops in the bore, the plunger can be slow to respond, and the pushrod falls out.
The other thing could be tight valve guides and sticking valves, which can often result in pushrods falling out.

You’ve got some checking to do.

A quick cam timing check is, on the overlap period..... with the motor at tdc........ the lifters with be up pretty close to the same amount(fairly even across the tops).
If one is up way higher than the other, the cam timing is likely off.

The timing set installed with the lower key way straight up, upper gear dot straight down....... happens surprisingly often.
This results in the cam being advanced 2.5 teeth(about 35*)...... which almost always results in intake V/P contact.
From your pic, the 3 lifters with failed pushrods are all intakes.

 

[Nate S]

Yuck. One of the lifters wasn’t spinning. The one with the stripe.... better look closely at the cam.

I used those hollow welded on ball pushrods once. After the same problem I threw them out and used factory.

 

[33 IMP]

Sounds to me like Dwayne has zeroed in on the root problem. You have some serious autopsy work to do. Cam might be damaged, heads and valves too. Cam face of those lifters don't look good.
First thing I would do is put the lifters back, get a couple pushrods, and run a compression check, hoping for good oil pressure,expecting some bent valves. Then pull the timing chain cover, and take a look.