I have a freshly rebuilt 390, pressure primed motor on stand, oil made it to upper end of engine, installed into truck, using DUI HEI distributor, installed into motor, using a three guage pod under the dash mechanical guages, crank engine over no oil pressure. removed distributor, pressure primed again, guage under dash reading 60psi.
What the heck am I doing incorrect, bring #1 to tdc, apprx 18-20 degrees on balance, drop in disy, it drops into intake rubber seal in disy is down into intake apprx 1/8 inch, pulled and rotated oil pump drive, reinstalled, seems like disy is not dropping in enough to enguage oil pump drive, I am using an ARP one piece drive shaft from oil pump, when I installed it motor was upside down on stand, put shaft in with small retaining washer pointed towards top of engine then installed oil pump. This my first Ford project
thanks for any info or ideas
Jeff

 

Maybe you got the wrong dizzy for your FE? Roll pin sheared on the dizzy gear? There are two different oil pump drive shaft dia also. Wrong dizzy?

 

IS ROTOR IN DIZZY TURNING ?
cam drives dizzy >dizzy drives oil pump
you could have to short of a oil pump drive , so it's not mating with dizzy .

 

brand new dizzy,
1/4 on shaft and dizzy, my pressure prime tool is very similar to the end of distributor, I can operate oil pump with my tool, when cranking motor rotor turns counter clockwise
dizzy gear and pin are fine, no damage
when I look in thru top of intake I can see the top of oil pump shaft, top portion of shaft sits in the casting of block that the bottom of dizzy gear almost touches when installed into block
Thanks for the feed back, any other possabilities??

 

1958/76 FE engines: There is only one dizzy driveshaft: B8AZ-6A618-A

 

Have you checked for a burr where the driveshaft fits into the distributor? Or that it's been machined correctly? And depth of the hole is correct compared to your prime tool? Sounds like it's just getting hung up somewhere and not dropping all the way down. On your new distributor is the gasket a O ring or the correct beveled gasket? If it's just a O ring it might be rolling up as you drop the distributor in if it's not a snug fit or stretched out. Try the one from your prime tool if it's a actual distributor gasket? Also compare the length and width of everything to be sure it's in spec. Has to be something simple hopefully.

 

from what you said , i'd lean towards dizzy is not all the way seated .
when dizzy seats the last 3/8 the rotor should turn a little , i had to actually bump my starter to pull dizzy down completely .

 

I dont have a prime tool, just used a long extension 1/4 drive with 1/4 six point socket to drive the oil pump. Dizzy has the beveled seal-gasket.
going to install an oem dizzy and see if it will that will operate oil pump and then compare to hei dizzy

thanks for the feed back!!!

 

I realize this has nothing to do with your question but humor me, I'm researching all things timing......when you bring #1 to TDC, shouldnt your pointer read TC or 0 on your balancer? And if not, doesnt that mean your balancer is off or slipped? Maybe I dont understand what you mean.....

 

as the piston is comming up on tdc, put dizzy in with balance reading 18 degrees or so, rotor pointing at #1 on cap so that it is close to firing that cylinder.
looks like I am going to have to drop the pan and compare drive shaft with another shaft to see if is to short?

does any one have a photo with dizzy out looking down thru intake at top of drive shaft?
apprx how far into bottom of dizzy should the drive shaft go in? looking thru the top of intake, looks like bottom portion of dizzy gear would almost be touching the inside of block that drive shaft inserts into, if I am making scense of what I am trying to describe
thanks

 

I had the dist. out of my 390 when I pulled the intake off. When I put the dist. back in it would not fall all the way into position. I fought with that stupid thing for hours.

I put in a couple days a week at the wreckers here. The fellow that owns it walks over to see what's happening.

To make a long story short he puts a couple fingers one the top of the dist cap and says hit the key a couple times. Boom fell right into place.

 

Here's the shot
I did what other poster did, used a 1/4" extension in a drill, knew I had pressure because I'd forgot to pit the sender on.. ooops! Well at least I knew I put the pump back together right.
puttster

 

Thanks for posting the photo!!
thats what mine looks like, have not touched it in a few days, maybe this afternoon

 

If your intake bolted in? I'm thinking if you had some head machining done or are testfitting the intake maybe it is too high.

To simplify try setting up at TDC instead of advanced. Also, because the gear is beveled the dizzy can't drop straight down, it has to turn to the right as it drops. So be sure to start the dizzy at least a plug to the left of #1 and then turn as you push it through.

 

Thanks for the response back
the block has been decked, heads milled, had to shave the intake runners to get intake bolt holes to line up, not running the cork end gaskets.
I compared my DUI HEI distributor to the oem points type dizzy, the oem is apprx 3/8 longer than the DUI unit. shipped dizzy out along with oem back to Performance Distributors to have corrected