Yes, pack the oil pump with grease during assembly...

For my SBC 383, I used the poor man's method. I pulled the plugs and cranked the motor. It spins very quickly w/o compression and the starter does a decent job of showing you if oil pressure builds as expected. I can't remember that the VX has a gauge to confirm when the oil is "loaded". My vette has a digital gauge. It took about 20 seconds to fully prime.

I'm on it's 3rd year and going strong...so it worked fine.