The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Very little oil flow to rockers

i just broke in a 59 with plenty of oil going to the rockers with oil spewing everywhere due to the excessive wear in the rocker bores on some of the rockers on the front of the engine. there are rockers that were either flooding the top of the rocker out of the oil hole and two that had oil dripping out of the bottoms on the rear of the head. for me i think when i get the new rockers, oil will be distributed equally due to the tighter bores thus pushing oil out where its supposed to with more than just a dribble. when i ran the engine before i tore it down the rockers were not getting oil. the engine also had an external line from the connection from the main oil galley to the connection on the side of the head for an additional oil supply along with oil coming up from the cam oil galley thru the head bolt with a hole in it. tim lederman and i had a lengthly phone conversation over the plumbing of this engine. when i tore the engine down both the oil line and the passage from the cam oil galley were plugged with sludge. the bolt with the hole drilled in it was also blocked which explains why the rockers werent getting any oil plus the excessive wear on the rocker shafts proved that.

sludge may be blocking your lines to the head. since your head has a plug in it (the one under the side cover) remove the plug and install a short nipple and elbow to direct the oil back into the oil drain hole by the lifters and run your oil pump with a drill and see how much oil comes out. if you get a good flow then any supply issue is after this point if not maybe your pick up screen is blocked at the pump. if you get good flow remove the fitting and plug the head and remove the plug at the top of the head (above side cover) and add the fittings there and repeat the process. if you get little or no oil then the bolt passage and the hole in the bolt may be plugged. if you get good oil flow there then the passage between the bolt and the oil tube that distributes oil across the rocker shaft is blocked. based on what i saw on mine it was all blocked like hardening of the arteries. the real choke off points are in the head itself because the oil comes from the front and rear cam bearings with a good flow of oil providing the cam oil galley is relatively clean. because of the reduced flow because of the size of the oil passage in the head and only a 1/8" hole in the head bolt that will be the area of the clogged artery. i studyied mine throughly when i got the engine back from the builder. i also used air to check all the passages first for flow to insure i didnt need to use the external oil line if i didnt have to. i sent tim the pics of everything on mine maybe he can post a link to them that is if he alreadt uploaded them to his site.