Well first things first, I am not only an amateur mechanic, but also an amateur internet user. I just joined here but I don't know the difference between a "forum" and a "blog" so if someone could tell me where is the best place to post my questions, I am probably in need of some guidance in the basics of website use.

As many of us did, I made the regretful mistake of letting my first car slip through my fingers. It was my dad's 1961 Ranchero that he bought new. It had a scarce but factory-issue interior that I thought I might never see again. One turned up on ebay with the same interior, and I immediately bought it, drove to Iowa and towed it back here myself (Shelton WA.) It was missing the drive train so I searched far and wide, then found a 1962 Ranchero on craigslist with complete drive train, 144 inline 6 with 3 on the tree, just like my dad's, drove to California and towed it back here also. The 62 looks like hell and has been heavily stripped, but miraculously under the hood was essentially complete; no engine parts had been vultured yet.

Before I swap the engine/transmission/drive shaft over to the 61, I wanted to see just how healthy the engine is first, and whether or not a custom rebuild might be a prudent choice. So I got the 62 running and have taken it on short test drives within a mile of home. (It isn't easy because the 62 has no seat and the brakes don't work, however the parking brake does work and I live out in the middle of nowhere with 3 miles of gravel road separating me from civilization.)

I checked compression and there is some worrying variance but not unexpected for the age, my pressures ranged from 120 to 145.

My next immediate concern was cooling system and the water pump turned out to be grinding. I pulled the cooling system apart and flushed everything until the water flowed clean, engine, radiator, heater core, and everything had very good water flow with no evidence of blockage or resistance. Replaced water pump and thermostat.

The charging system was working but putting out a little less than I liked, very much on the low end of barely acceptable. Swapped the regulator over from the 61 and got a whole 1 volt bump in output, now charging in the 14 to 14.5 range.

So that's a lot of background but here's where I am stumped. I'm afraid to run this engine more than a few minutes at a time unless I'm certain the oil is flowing properly. When I take the valve cover off, I'm seeing no evidence of oil actively getting to the top of the engine. The previous owner had installed a mechanical oil pressure gauge directly to the engine, in between the engine and the sending unit. This gauge shows 30 pounds at idle and up to 45 pounds when the RPMs go up. So I'm pretty sure I have a working oil pump in there.

I have done every search I can think of on google but unable to find an oil-flow diagram for 144, 170, or any of the Ford straight 6 engines.

Near the front of the engine, under the valve cover, there is a bolt which is clearly designed to double as oil passageway. It is tapered to be narrower than the opening, and at the top of the opening there is a little oil stream bed with a cover. It is obvious that the oil is meant to flow up in the gap around this bolt, across this narrow passageway, and down the adjacent opening onto the top of the engine. But it doesn't. With the engine off, I removed the bolt and put compressed air down into that bolt hole in case there is a blockage further down. It sounded like the air was blowing directly into a big open engine with no resistance whatsoever.

I am just stuck here and don't know what diagnostic to do next.

Do I actually have a working oil pump, or is it possible for the pressure gauge to show that much pressure when the oil pump is actually much weaker than it needs to be? Is there a possible blockage in the oil path to the top of the engine, and if so, how do I confirm it or find it? Is there an oil flow diagram out there somewhere which could help me in my research? Where do I find this type of technical information?

Any help from the more knowledgeable/experienced enthusiasts would be most extremely welcome!
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