The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 235 troubles

Hey guys,
As you may or may not remember from an earlier post, I had my '54 235 completely rebuilt and the rear main went out after just 68 miles. While looking the engine over before discovering the spun rear main, I discovered the valve train was completely dry and starting to rust! I pulled the engine and brought it back to the engine shop and they said they'd fix it under warranty (like they should). I got it back a couple weeks ago with new mains and a reground crankshaft. Over the past week I've gotten the engine back in the truck. Today while priming the oil pump, we noticed there was still no oil getting to the top of the engine. I took off the line that behind the pushrod cover and blew air through it and out came a cloud of oily-smelling dust! Wonder when the last time the top of my engine saw oil...

My question for you guys, before I go dropping the pan and blowing compressed air through the oil lines leading to the crank bearings, is there anything else I should try to clear out the clogged line? I'm almost positive I know which line is clogged, since I have good pressure on the gauge, but presumably don't have oil getting to the mains.

I'm getting too good at pulling and installing engines into 1950 Chevys... :rolleyes:

Carl

I'd be asking the shop that assembled it twice why there is no oil getting to the top end.

I tried calling Friday, but because of New Year's Eve, the shop was closed on Friday. I'll surely call them and let them know what happened and ask why 1/2 my engine isn't getting oil after being assembled by them twice. The kicker for me is that I fly back to college on Monday and I won't be back until the end of March. Looks like I'll either be dropping the pan and tinkering with it myself this weekend or waiting until March.

Carl

Well that sux .

Did you know you can remove the distributor and make up an oil pump drive out of welding rod or coat hanger wire and chuck it into a cheapo hande drill & pre-oil the engine this way? .

I've cleaned out the tiny pass through oil line with aerosol brake cleaner , wear goggles as it will blow some back at you before it blows clean

Yep, that's how I was priming it...just should have done it before doing anything like putting the engine back in the truck. :p Then I could have just brought it back to the builder. Live and learn I guess. :rolleyes: Me and a couple friends are probably dropping the pan tomorrow and seeing of we can clear out any clogged lines.

Carl

i had a 54 chevy car that i had to clean the oil line to the head then had to go to the junk yard and get rocker arms mine were all loose from no oil for years the motor ran grate after

Good news: the rockers now have good oil...but only because I ran an external line from the pressure port to the hole on the other side of the head..

After dropping the pan, we found that the bottom of the engine all had a good oil supply, but there just wasn't any getting up to the oil line that's behind the push rod cover. The lines were all clear; we could even blow compressed air down through the bottom port where that line connects, but no oil (or compressed air blown from the bottom) would ever come up and out. All that we can figure is they lined up the rear cam bearing wrong, so a hole lined up to get oil in but the exit hole is on the wrong side, so it doesn't go up to the top, since the cam bearings all get oil still. Could this happen, or is there another possible explaination?

As I said at the beginning of this post, I opted for an external oil line to feed the rockers, because I don't really want to pull the engine again if I don't have to.

Got everything put back together just in time to fly off back to college...the truck will have to wait until spring break for me to run it... :rolleyes:

Carl