I got a reprint of the 1951 edition of "how to hop up Chevrolet engines". I was surprised that they did not trash the splash oiling. They said "lubrication was by a weird but effective combination of splash, jet and pressure...it would handle an lubrication conditions at any RPM on the stock setup". They also noted that the bearing area was larger per cubic inch than any other production engine. Their main beef with the engine was the cast iron pistons.
