[Bill Hanlon]

Talked to Jack. He did not remember the "timing" of the oil holes. But because you didn't take the cam out you shouldn't have a problem in the short block.

Questions remaining are:

1. Do the head gaskets have proper passageways for the oil flow to transition from the block to the heads? It is not a straight shot through a round hole. 2nd picture below shows the hole. The cut out in the head gasket is an oval. This drawing is of a pre-60 head that has cooling tubes that are fed directly from the water pump. Your 63 does not have these.

2. Did the shop that rebuilt the heads clean out the oil galleries? 1st picture shows the plug in one end of the head that needs to be removed to clean out the gallery. There is a plug in each end.

With the drill motor keeping the oil pump running, you should be able to very slowly turn the crankshaft (maybe 10 degrees, then wait for 30 seconds or so) checking for oil flow in one head or the other. Maybe pull a rocker arm off of each head to make the flow easier to see.

I'd pour a tablespoon of oil into each rocker arm, say a prayer to the great Ottawa war chief Pontiac and crank it up. Don't expect to have oil spurting out over the fenders like the later V8s that lube the whole top end through the pushrods.

Let us know how it goes.