No oil pressure after vg33 swap

oil pressure should build within a few seconds. my advice would be to disable fuel and spark and crank it till you see any pressure build on your gauge. if none builds then you may have a pump of pickup tube related issue. or no oil in it......

okay ya i have a feeling its the oil pickup tube "sigh". So i guess my next question is do you think i damaged the engine? I ran the car like i said about 5 times but lets just say i ran it 8 -10 times for 5-10 seconds each time..
I guess what im asking is have the Pros on here ever heard of / done something similar and if so what was the result and what do you think the result of my situation is.

When i take the engine out ill look at the oil for shavings but when pan off what should i look for as far as possible damage done? Also when i started it the lifters were clacking away so im hoping my valve train is okay as well. The engine was pulled from a pathfinder, it wasn't a brand new rebuild just a swap so im kinda hoping the residual oil that was left over on stuff may have saved it but knowing my luck its toast.

I did pull the fuel pump fuse plus ignition and turned it over many times before i fired it up but im kicking my self for repetitively starting it when i didn't see any oil psi. I just thought it would take a bit (5-10 seconds) to build pressure but turns out im wrong. Thanks for the help in advanced

depends if you used good lube when you put it together, whether it was completely dry on startup or not. you can pull bearing caps and look at the bearing itself once the pan is off. the evidence of damage would be clear as day. also have you confirmed the pressure gauge is good. could be a bad gauge all together. valvetrain should be ok.

if you pick up a oil filter cutter you will not need to drop the pan to inspect for metal shavings in the pan. https://z31performance.com/forum/z31…and-a-question

If you do remove the pan to replace the pickup tube i'd suggest somthing like what i did. Removing the slosh pans and heating shaping the tube https://z31performance.com/forum/z31…p-retrofitting

if it never picked up oil, its not going to show in the oil filter........ hence he still needs to pull the pan, worth a try though

Okay i will pull the engine and pan tonight or tomorrow morning and report back with the results as well as look at the oil. I was wondering since i dont have my engine stand anymore and cant flip the engine, if i take the main bearing cap off with the engine hanging on the hoist will the bearing come falling out or is their something holding them in? I tried looking at the haynes manual but couldnt find anything on it.

Also since i dont feel like risking not oil pressure again and after i fix the pickup tube im going to figure a way to test if oil is being picked up. i was thinking about getting a coffee can with oil and setting it up to the end of the pickup tube. Then either get a low power air ratchet thats just enough to spit the crank with out tightening the crank bolt or since i have pulleys laying around rig up a pulley to a impact ect. i think then i could at least see if oil is flowing through the ports of the engine like the turbo oil feed at least.
.

i didn't see that he claimed there was no oil in the filter.

*TOGO, take note.* the 33 puts oil from pan->pump->filter->engine galleys. If you have no oil in the filter you have no oil flow. an easy way to determine low side flow is to pull the filter to check if it's filled, if you prefill (highly suggested) pull the plug on the rear of the filter mount and crank, it should spit post-filter oil.

If you used good moly graphite lube during assembly i wouldn't even disassemble for inspection. Check upper flow by removing a valve cover and cranking for 15-30 sec, the cams and rockers should be wet by then if you have good flow - the heads should also have a thin remaining layer or minor pools of oil in low spots.

So the day i tried starting it and ect i pulled the filter after cranking it about 5-10 times with fuel pump off/ignition off plus starting it 1-3 times and the filter was only 3/4 full or so. So i then filled the filter the rest of the way thinking it would help.
So next i pulled the after market mechanical oil pressure gauge where the stock oil pressure sending unit was and sure enough their was no oil spitting out of the port, not to mention the gauge and such worked with my previous engine just months ago.
After that went to the other side of the engine and pulled the turbo oil line at the turbo and crank it with no fuel/spark and just a tiny tiny tiny little bit was on the paper towel.

Okay ill test the upper part of the engine out but by the sound of the knocking lifters i doubt its getting enough oil or any.

Edit: So im wondering what you guys would do here, when i pull my oil pickup ill be testing it for pin hole leaks in the welds that were done, At the end of the pick up tube theirs a screen i was wondering if i should just cut the screen away to test it and leave it like that or try and tack it into place in 4 square spots or figure away around the screen. I guess i could make a slit just big enough to get a cork ect into to test it then tack the flap together in a spot.

I just want to know if i take the bearing cap off with the crank facing down(since i don't have my engine stand) can i easily put the bearings back, or is their no point in trying without an engine stand? Really wish i didn't lend my engine stand..

You could pull one at a time and put them back before pulling the next one, the lower bearing should come with the cap and the upper will be held in by the crankshaft.

the main cap is one whole girdle. it comprises all the main caps, this is not a chevy engine.

Doh, I knew that, now I feel like an idiot, just ignore me, lol

Thought ide come back to my post and let you guys know i figured out the issue. After pulling the engine back out i found the demon was a tiny crack in a weld on the oil pick up tube(done by a professional welder....40$ for three welds) which caused not just a loss in oil pressure but no oil pressure. Put the vg33 back in started her up and it gets 20-30 psi oil pressure at 750 rpms. Thanks to everyone who helped me i do appreciate it.