As feral said, there are two general ways the oil gets to the top. The "early" type engines (A10 / A12 from 1000 and 1200) have a separate oil feed hole in the block & cylinder head, in the gasket set for these there is usually a small metal & rubber bung that goes in this hole. It is roughly 10mm inboard from the central head bolt.

The later 120Y, A14, A15 have the oil coming around the centre bolt the whole way, from the block to the head. There are therefore two distinctively different "T" bolts for A series motors, that can be a trap. The longer T bolts are for the later engines

Hope this helps

yep. I've been caught out by that different oil supply system when using an A15 head on an A14 block.

The oil feed line to the rockers from the centre cam bearing or upper block surface may be blocked by your head gasket or may not be drilled in the head if you have changed heads. Did you put the thin head bolt in the centre oil feed hole?

I think would think the only thing to do would be drop the rocker arms of, crank up oil pressure and check for flow to the top of the head?. If not then take the head off and check for flow to the top of the block.

There are two different oil feed systems to the rockers. One through a restrictive drilling in the block connected to the main oil gallery, or two from the centre cam bearing around a thinner head bolt up to a diversion hole in the head that directs the oil to the rocker shaft.

Good luck

and were the cam bearings replaced?

there's a special head bolt which is marked '12T'. This bolt has a smaller diametre shaft to allow oil to feed up around it to the rocker gear, and needs to be in the centre bolt hole on the spark plug side of the engine.

if that is not the problem,
*what block (A12/14 etc), cylinder head, and head gasket have you used? Is it the same head & block as before you rebuilt it?
*did you disassemble the rocker gear from the shaft for inspection during the rebuild? You could have the wrong pedestal/post in the centre position which has the oil gallery cast into it.

Could it be missing holes in the head gasket?
Although if you put oil into the engine via the tappet cover, and it made it to the sump, then I can't imagine that this is the problem. I'd need to look at my engine manual, to have a more detailed opinion.

Chris

hey guys,

i went to retorque my head and noticed no oil on my tappets. so i ran the engine an no oil was being pumped up, but i have oil pressure. what could it be??? please help, i would hate to break something as i have just built the engine.

many thanks
nicholas
south africa