Oil pump

[girlmekanic]

I have a 1993 Sable with a 3.8L. I rebuilt the engine, transmission, and rack and pinion on it. I have put a lot of effort and money into it and now after 2 years. It is my first engine rebuild which I did while I was in school. I just started it today, but I have no oil pressure. Roooaaaarrr!
I am limited with specialty tools, so bear with me.

After verifing the electrical connection is good to the sending unit, I removed the oil filter and have no oil coming out of filter adapter. I gather from that the pump is not pumping. Pump gears and housing are all new.

I then removed distributor and put some oil into pump, then drove pump for about one minute with drill and distributor shaft. Still no oil from adapter. Even if pump clearances were incorrect, I should still have some oil pressure. Not completely dead.

Is oil being picked up from pickup tube? I put in 4 1/2 quarts of oil, dipstick shows full. All I can figure is that the oil is not coming in from pickup tube. I am sure tube is not bent and was not restricted at the time I installed it.

I used an old timing cover, but cleaned it in a sand blasting tank because it was so bad. I believe there is a valve or something in the timing cover. Maybe that's where I goofed. If that was stuck from grains of sand, could that cause no oil pressure, or would oil just be bypassed?

There could also be a bad seal at the pickup tube and block, or the oil pump seal at the timing cover. I just don't see how I could have overlooked that or screwed that up. I used all new seals and gaskets. I am a perfectionist when it comes to this kind of work.
If anyone knows of anything that I could have accidentally done wrong or overlooked please help. I just don't know enough about the oil pump and bypass system to diagnose my problem.

[Taurus8702]

The few times I have ever seen this on any car is when the oil pickup tube or screen was clogged, or restricted where it is submerged in the oil. This was caused by the amount of gook at the bottom of the oil pan, and all the activity of cleaning simply loosened it enough to let it suck up and block the pick up. ALSO, the end of the shaft (if used) going into the pump could be worn to the point of not turning the new pump. Be sure if you use a drill to rotate the shaft as a test that its going in the right direction, as well as checking the end of your distributor to make sure it is not worn out as well. Good luck!