I hope I answered all of your questions, except I forgot to mention your priming method is wrong. If you prime until oil runs from the rockers, you have washed all of the prelube from the bearings!!!
When pre lubing we use Clevite Bearing guard on everything, rocker arms pushrod ends too and timing chain (put that on with a brush and get every link and pivot lubed. When priming any V-8 or V-6 chevy you need to use a dummy distributor housing to seal the passenger oil galley or else you wont get any oil to that side of the lifter/cam area. But most importantly, over priming does nothing but wash all of the pre-lube from the bearings into the oil pan!!! Yes, I'm yelling again.
The proper way: If a flat tappet cam is used, mix the ZDDP additive(cam break-in additive) in a clean container thoroughly with all of the oil before putting it into the engine, otherwise the engine will start and run before the additive is mixed and thrown on the cam where it is needed. Non-detergent oil is best for cam break-in because the detergent "cleans" the ZDDP deposit off form the cam/ lifters reducing its effectiveness. Fill the crankcase, then prime the shaft with a small drill or speedwrench, we don't recommend using a big drill because it is more difficult for a newbie to feel what happens next. Start the drill, it will freewheel until the pump picks up prime (you can feel and hear when that happens), then it pulls down the drill again once the oil filter fills, then the galleys fill and the drill pulls down again. STOP HERE!!! (yelling again). You only need the pump primed, the filter full, and the air out of the main galleys. Any more "priming" just washes the $65.00/ gallon pre-lube down into the pan. You already pre-lubed the rockers, pushrods and everything else while assembling the engine, it needs no more until oil pressure is attained. Even the Clevite rep has rethought his position on engine priming after our discussion. (See Engine Builder Magazine last year.)
Just so you know, I am very introspective in our engine building, so much so that about 30 years ago we assembled an engine, pre-lubed it the recommended way of the day, then took the pan off to see if the pre-lube was still on the bearings, it wasn't, we did it again and again until we came up with how we continue do it now/still. Remember, the drill pulls down when pump is primed, then again when the filter is full, and then again when the galleys are full, stop there. For non-detergent oil, buy the cheap stuff, you will change it after cam break-in anyway. After the break-in we prefer Shell Rotella "T" diesel oil, it has a great additive package, near what racing oil has, and much cheaper. Its what we use in our race and go fast lake engines. TIMINATOR
