what's with the hand primer pump?
 

I looked under everything I could think of in the search and couldn't find an answer. I want to know what to expect when the hand pump is pumped? I recently removed the injector lines to gain easy access to the glow plugs. After reinstalling the lines, with the nuts at the injectors still loose, I pumped the hand pump till I was blue in the face, expecting to see weeping at the nuts. I didn't see fuel so I thought the hand pump was bad so I tightened the nuts and cranked a long time till it started.

I just changed a couple of glow plugs on my other car and also replaced the hand pump on it just for kicks. While the injector lines were still sitting on the air cleaner, I pumped until I heard the squishing sound. I thought I would see the fuel coming out of one or some of the ports of the injector pump and didn't. After a little pondering, I believe that the pumping action only pulls fuel from the tank and charges the filters and fills the injector pump.

To get the fuel lines full, I think that I will need to use the LarryBible trick of leaving the injector lines one turn loose at the injectors and have Wifeypoo crank and I'll tighten them one at a time as they weep.

Am I on the right track or what?

Yes. The only thing that the hand pump does is move fuel from the tank through the system. The Injection Pump is what delivers the fuel to the injectors (lines) at the correct time. If you could pump through the IP with the hand pump then there would be something wrong with your IP.