Because you have to have valve function to start the motor, lifters are pumped up via the oil gallery, which "usually" sees the oil from the pump first to get them functioning first. They fill via a hole in their side and bleed out from the top to push oil up the push-rods to the lifters so that oil gets to all the upper valve-train. So it is really rare to get them not to pump up under 40 PSI of pressure. They have to be really broken.
The cam bearings also get oil first along with the lifters, so the reason I asked about where the offending lifter was is to see maybe perhaps a cam bearing was installed wrong and blocking the oil path. Doubt it now if only one lifter is acting up.
Bummer deal no less.
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