I packed the oil pump gears with vaseline before I put the timing cover on.
Should I pour oil in here to make the pump work better on initial start-up? Or would this be detrimental and wash away the vaseline?
I will also need to turn the engine over when installing. Will this mess up the application of vaseline on the oil pump gears?

 

Don’t need to do that. I would suggest to add an oil
pressure gauge while you have everything apart. Some good videos on YouTube for the install.

 

On a dry engine I primed the system by pumping a gallon of engine oil in through the oil cooler port with a diaphragm pump. The engine was completely installed including oil filter. It pushes the oil through the pump (backwards), filter as well as the galleys. I didn't use vaseline. Oil pressure came up right away after cranking.