87 fleetwood oil pump?

got an 87 fleetwood that my grandpa gave me. it has a new crate engine with about 7,000 miles on it. one day i was in a parking lot and all of a sudden it started smoking, so i took it home and shut it off to cool down. checked all the fluids then cranked back up, was making a loud ticking noise from the valve cover, took it off and one of the pieces that joins the rocker arms broke in half and the rocker arm bolt pulled out of the 'girdle' "that piece that all the rockers bolt to"...so i replaced it and cranked it back up, still loud tapping, ticking noise. i had the valve cover loose still so i pulled it off while running and no oil is coming up through the pushrods. i checked the other side and no oil either. i heard that these motors are hit and miss with oil pump problems but i don't know. its the small v8 4.1 i think?? i pulled the dist. out and tried to prime it w/ new oil but still did the same thing. does anyone know about this or had this problem? thanks.

These engine were problematic from day one, get an oil pressure gage on it and see what you have post back results.