I forgot I started this thread.
let me clear up a few points.
- I assembled the engine, I did not install it.
- The professional mechanic made an error for which he admitted and was fixed at his cost. Mistakes happen and he stood by his work. Didn't cut corners on the new parts needed for the rebuild either. He is a top mechanic and has prepared winning cars up to national level.
- I don't have it in front of me but if I recall correctly the remote filter housing didn't have any arrows on it
- the 'to engine' and 'from engine' lines had the same fitting and were not marked. They should have been.
- The vehicle was fitted with an oil pressure gauge but it was reading from the remote filter housing and showing good pressure (I think, my memory is a little grey on this point though. May have been temp reading from housing but I don't think so as I am pretty sure temp was reading from sump. Yeah, must have been oil pressure. In fact now I recall that oil pressure sender location was changed following this to be in the line from oil cooler just as enters block to prevent such an incident ever happening again)
My curiosity and reason for this thread was simply how much oil the engine was getting because it actually ran for quite a while. Whilst this incident happened a good number of years ago I still ponder and am amazed how it lasted as long as it did.
The engine was assembled with liberal assembly lube although I forget which one and I have swapped between a few brands over the years. I don't know what would have happened if I used just plain old oil during assembly...but...I wouldn't use anything buy assembly lube now. I'm sold.
I am now no longer as worried as I used to be if a fresh engine doesn't fire first time and takes a bit of sorting out.