pulled the pump out tonight...real easy. Looked like the spring may have locked up and been fully extended, as the valve was not sliding very easily. May have caught a small burr from the original start up. Does that spring really compress when the motor is running to allow the oil to flow? Seems like a pretty stiff spring. I imagine that when the spring is compressed, it allows oil to pass through the pump. My sense is that the spring was not able to, and therefore, severly limited the flow of the pump.
How easy should that valve slide in the bore? I oiled it up, and it still was not really easy to move. I remember when I was installing the lifters in their bore, with 20-50 weight on them, they spun really nice. Probably not the same thing, but it looked liked the machining was kind of the same.
I think this was the problem. Off to summit racing in the morning, installing a new high volume melling tomorrow. Hope that's the ticket.