The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop '58 235 oiling question

Maybe I should have said lack of oiling. I put this '58 235 in my brother's truck. I pulled the valve cover off to set the valves and I noticed there was no oil on the rockers or top of the head. I found that the bolt the oil comes thru to the rockers was in the wrong hole, so for some period of time there was no oil getting to the rockers.
What's your opinion. Could this have have hurt the anything other than the rockers? Valve guides?
This engine had been sitting for a few months. Now it runs great, has good compression in each hole, but does smoke, (blue), a little over about 2500rpm, and a puff of smoke comes out when you let off of the gas. I'm just wondering if I should pull the head to have the guides checked, or run it and see if the smoking subsides.
Thanks

run it till you have a problem if you hurt anything its to late now

What did the bolt look like that goes where the rockers oil,there have been posts about a special bolt in the past. I kinda hacked up the bolt,ground a groove through the threads to make my 235 get oil as I have the wrong bolt in mine. As for the smoke it probably is the valve stem seals and they can be replaced without removing the head

I replaced the valve seals.
The bolt has about a 1/16" hole in it from the bottom up to just past the end of the threads, where the bolt is a little smaller. The oil goes up through the bottom of the bolt and then after the threads it goes around the ouside of the bolt then thru a small passage in the head to the oil line that oils the rockers. Whoever had rebuilt this engine, at some time, had put this bolt in the middle of the head and not thru where the oil passage is in the head.
I have the front sheet metal off of the truck right now. I'm trying to make a decision on whether or not to spend the $250-300 for a valve job and guides, or is the smoke possibly coming from some stuck oil rings from setting for some months.

Yes, there was discussion in the past about a special grooved bolt but actually it doesn't exist.The oil intended for the rockers passes from a drillway in the block to the head above the threaded hole in the block. The oil doesn't pass by the bolt threads at all.All the head bolts have the same reduced shank area.Chevy had a special bolt restricting the upper end oil on some later engines.
Brian, clean up the bolt and post a picture here.

Tony,
I will post a pic if I pull the head off. If you put any of the other head bolts in the spot where this one goes, you get no oil to the rockers. The other bolts are not drilled as this one is.

Brian, I don't know about that for sure, I have rebuilt two 261's and a 235 in the last 7 years, all of them 1959 and up engines. No special bolts at all and they all oil the rockers quite well. Have also disassembled a few 55-58 235 engines, never found any special bolts there either.GM only lists two type head bolts for all the 216/235/261 engines, plus the one special oil metering bolt to reduce the oil flow when using a later head on an early block or the other way around. When the head is off, the path the oil takes is easy to trace.

Tony, The special bolt he is using is the one you mentioned and is mentioned in the parts books. It is only used if a 53-58 head is used on a 59-62 block. This was done because starting in 59 chev increased the oil restrictor size to the rockers from 1/16" to 11/32". The special bolt also came with a plug that was driven in the oil port in the block next to the special bolt. This rerouted the oil to go through the 1/16" drilled head bolt instead. If not used excess oil would flood the top end. If the block has this plug in it, you have to use the drilled bolt or you will get no oil to the top end.
I would also add, This is not because the head is different but the rockers are.

Ok back to square one. Could the lack of oil to the rockers have hurt the valve guides? Or maybe the oil rings are stuck from the engine sitting on it's side for a few months? Like I said before, the engine runs great, has good compression, but does smoke some especially when letting off of the gas. Has anyone ever experienced something like this after an engine has sit a while?
Thanks

Smoke letting off the gas is head, smoke while revving high is rings. Sounds like you are leaking through the head. Most likely valvestem seals. I believe guys here recommend umbrella seals that do a better job sealing. Maybe someone else will chime in.

Otherwise I would just drive it a while and see if it improves. If the seals are dry maybe they will seal better now that the head has some lubrication.