Why is it that when you think your getting close to the end of a motor build something goes wrong?

I tried to prime the oil pump today to make sure I had oil to the rockers and noticed I was pushing oil out, I think between the block and the pump. It could be between the end cover and the pump body too. It's hard to tell as I'm standing on the opposit side of the block using the drill motor. This is a rebuilt (by me) rotor style pump and there really isn't much to them. When I rebuilt the pump, I noticed there was light scoring on the inside of the flat cover so I used some fine emery on a flat steel plate and got the scoring out. I know the pump is working because I forgot to plug the oil galley hole behind the oil filter and oil came squirting out. I plugged that hole and retorqued the pump bolts and tried again, but it still pushed oil out. I was able to get to the plug on the pressure relief valve, so I removed that and shecked the plunger and spring and everything was moving freely. Put it back together and still was pushing out oil. I didn't continue to spin the pump to see if oil was getting to the rockers and I know from past experience that can take a couple of minutes. So my first question is, even if the oil passages to the heads are plugged due to a bad cleaning job by the machine shop, that wouldn't cause oil to push out from the pump body would it? Maybe I should just get a new oil pump and try again

Rono

  Ron Lane,  Meridian, ID