I've got distributor out of engine on a 57 y-block 292 and I'm driving oil pump with socket and drill while valve covers are removed. I'm not seeing oilflow to either valve train. I know the oil filter was not filled at the start because I did oil change recently, but I kept it spinning for awhile. I also rotated crank in 30deg increments (cam in 15deg incr) and still did not see flow, on the off-chance that camshaft had cross-drilled holes. I assume the head channels are clogged and I'll need to remove and clean them. How can I do further test to know oil pump even works before I remove the heads? I don't have oil pressure gauge, though I suppose I could put pipe-mount gauge on 1 of 4x 1/4" ports along drivers side of engine, probably the one to the left of the oil filter. Does that sound like a solid plan? Are there other easy ways, maybe just open that same port and see if oil pumps out while drilling? I have no idea how oil pressure changes with drill rpm. Has anybody else gone thru some similar exercise that has advice? Thanks.

ive never seen both sides fail at the same time.