Have a 79 engine block an 81 heads on a 454 completly rebuild.went to prime the oil system an only so the oil moving though the bottom but never got any to the top of the heads.Tryed a bigger drill an almost burned up the motor an the drill at 10,000rpm still no oil to the top.Any help would be great i am lost some friends say will work when you start it some say i am in for trouble i am    my first complete engine  

To v8mack500.                                                       I dont know about big blocks, But my small block chevy oil flow to lifter gallery runs through a port hole through a notch in distributor(with distributor installed)then through a series of holes that run in line through lifter bores that supplies oil through and around the lifters one after the next on to the last lifter.                                      If Your motor is the same way ,You wont get oil to top end with distributor not installed. If yours is  same as my motor you may be able to purchase an extra used distributor and punch the pin that holds gear out and modify top of dist. to use fittings your drill will work on. However, i am not sure if bb has front or rear distributor set up. I hope this helps . You may want to check repair manual or wait for someone else with experience on bb engines.  

BBC  and SBC distributors will interchange and the oil galleys are set up the same. you need a donor distributor to properly block off the oil passages. its alot easier to make sure there are no oil flow issues right now before its installed.  

auto zone has oil pump priming tools in their loaner program..

some other stores also

harbor freight sells them cheep...

here is the link so you know what they look like...

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=97738


and yes... the motor will not properly prime without this....

on a fresh motor... i usually put it together... leaving the spark plugs out... put the dizzy in at what ever the base timing should be on the balancer... lining up the pickup coil and reluctor tips.. then locking it down...when the tips of the reluctor and pick up coil line up... that is where it fires the coil.    i put in 2 quarts of very thin oil...  then crank the motor with the oil filter off...  till i get squirt out the opening.. then screw a new filter on...top off the oil with what ever weiught i am going to run,  cranking it till the pressure comes up... remember no spark plugs...  put in the spark plugs..  and start the motor... since the timing is set really close... the motor can start and run for the cam break in without needing to turn the dizzy to get it to run smooth...  roller cam.. forget the cam break in..

the reason for the thin oil and cranking it with the filter off is to let the pump run free ... thick oil is hard for a pump to suction oil up from the pan..     on motors that have crank snout mounted oil pumps... when changing the oil... i sometime drain it ... pull the filter..   put the plug back in... crank the motor till i get oil out of the filter mount... then screw the new filter on and start the motor... this removes the dry start from old worn out thin oil that drips out of the pickup tube leaving the pump unable to suction it up...


this is stuff i do not just on hot rods.. but on everyday cars...  i also never let the engine run for more than the count of 10 after an oil change if the oil light is not out..  

I did use a oil prime tool have had one from jegs,the big question still is does oil come all the way to the top of the heads or was something wrong? saw it pump though the cam valleys an was using think oil 15w 40  

Often times, you can manually turn the engine over or crank it a bit while priming to get pressure up.  I have built a few motors that I haven't seen oil at the rockers but had good prime pressure.  I usually dump oil over the rockers with the valve covers off when filling the motor up in addition to normal assembly lubing.  Never had any problems with oiling or wear upon start up.