I've been trying to de-bug my Nova for quite some time now so I can use it for transportation. I thought this was the last little project. When my father sold me my Nova back, he had made a strange alternator set up for it. He used the alternator out of his '90 Chevy pick up with a serpentine set up. He put a chrome "V" pulley on it and came up with funky looking adjuster bracket. It worked great, but it looked wierd. I remembered I had the correct aternator for it at my storage unit so I went and got it. I cut and bent the chrome thing he had on there and fired it up. Works great, charges great, looks great. Ok, I'm finally ready to start driving this thing on the road. Until now, I've just been taking test flights around the block. When I look down at the volt meter, I notice I have zero (0) oil pressure. Well, maybe it's just the gauge. I hook up my test gauge to it. Nope, still nuthin'! My one month old Moroso pump * the bed. Yea! I'm so happy I could just,........well, you know.

[quote=earthquake68;1165855]When I look down at the volt meter, I notice I have zero (0) oil pressure. quote]


Man, You do have problems if your volt meter reads zero oil pressure. :D

LK

[quote=earthquake68;1165855]When I look down at the volt meter, I notice I have zero (0) oil pressure. quote]


Man, You do have problems if your volt meter reads zero oil pressure. :D

LK

I hate that when it happens. :D

Thats not a Melling voltmeter is it? :D

How does the motor sound? Pulled a valve cover to verify no oil pressure?

[quote=earthquake68;1165855]When I look down at the volt meter, I notice I have zero (0) oil pressure. quote]


Man, You do have problems if your volt meter reads zero oil pressure. :D

LK



awsome job dude i can't stop i am cracking up.

Ok, since I consider everyone on this site a friend to some degree, I'll let all the teasing slide. After all, what's a friend for, if not to kick a man while he's down. For the record, my volt meter is right next to my oil pressure gauge. When I read the thread back to myself, I thought someone may read it like you guys did, but never dreamed I'd get the ribbing about that I have sofar. Yes, it's official, it has NO oil pressure. The motor isn't knocking yet because it's brand new and it was put together a little tight. My trusty mechanical guage I use to build motors (engines for all you anal guys out there) told me that I'm sitting on zero.

By the way guys, thanks for the support.

Pump may have just lost its prime. Did the engine sit with no oil in it or something? I had a 350 that was drained before storage and would not prime after adding oil. Had to drop the pan and pack the oil pump full of vaseline. Primed up and worked fine after that, I cant see your pump putting out no pressure unless it lost its prime or the distributor isnt turning it.

Did you try & prime it with a drill motor? The oil pump shaft might have got missed at assembly, Thus not turning the pump

LK

I might be wrong about this, but I believe that an oil pump will pump air as well as liquid, and as such, it will not ever need to be primed. If it's not putting out oil, it is some other issue. Pick up maybe??

earthquake68,

When nobody gives you * about things like that, thats when you start worrying :D

Can't you just feel the love in here? LOL

Your Friend,

Mr Bill

An oil pump still needs to be primed to prevent undue wear on startup but that being said, the pickup may be your problem. Set up too close to pan? Clogged with excess silicone gasket sealant? I've seen both these things happen on fresh builds.

An oil pump still needs to be primed to prevent undue wear on startup but that being said, the pickup may be your problem. Set up too close to pan? Clogged with excess silicone gasket sealant? I've seen both these things happen on fresh builds.

Or the pickup could have fallen/broken off

Did you try & prime it with a drill motor? The oil pump shaft might have got missed at assembly, Thus not turning the pump

LK

I'll take it down systematicaly. I want to pull out the distributer first, to see if the shear pin broke on the gear and if the oil pump shaft broke. The only trouble with that theory is, it runs fine. Maybe the drive inside the end of the gear? I've never seen that, but I guess anythings possible.

I might be wrong about this, but I believe that an oil pump will pump air as well as liquid, and as such, it will not ever need to be primed. If it's not putting out oil, it is some other issue. Pick up maybe??

Not true, the vasiline trick works good. By the time a dry pump pulls oil, it can cause engine damage.

Or the pickup could have fallen/broken off

I thought that too, so I over filled it by a quart to see if I would get oil pressure back. I didn't. 6 quarts should've submerged over half the pump.

The hang-up I have with the whole deal is I had wonderful oil pressure for a month. I drove it around and had a solid 50-60 pounds, now,.......nuthin'! The oil is clean and I used a one piece gasket, so I shouldn't have junk in it. It's also a brand new oil pan, so I know there was nothing floating around in the bottom. The oil pump is a pretty straight forward system. There's not a whole lot that can go wrong with it. I guess the only way to see is pull it down and see what the heck happened.

Thanks for the thoughts, guys. I'll keep you posted.