The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks No oil to head

I've had a 66 c-10 for nearly 10 years. I finally decided to swap out the original 230 for a 292 I found a rebuilt. I bought a master rebuild kit and got down and dirty with it. The newly rebuilt engine runs awesome and seems to have a ton of power! However, it smokes around the valve cover. I pulled the cover off to do a fine valve adjustment and discovered there was no oil being pushed up. This problem has been racking my brain for over 6 months now as I have been trying to figure out out!. I have made sure all of my freeze plugs were good, replaced the oil pump twice, checked my poison rings offset twice, and even manually primed the oil pump through the distributor port after making sure the lifters and push rods were unobstructed. Still nothing. The only thing left I can figure is maybe there is a place on the head gasket that didn't have a hole punched out or there is an oil passage clogged. I can get very minimal oil from the 1 and 5 rockers, but very barely. Any thoughts?! I am desperate to get my baby back on the road!

Well after a little more research and digging, I think I am going to pull the oil pump again and bench test it again. This time I will pack it with Vaseline to see if it will help the gears produce suction. I am excited about the prospects of this easy fix, but certainly not looking forward to removing the oil pan. The thought of having to remove the motor mounts so I can lift the engine again is not thrilling. But I will do what I must.

Before you go to the effort of pulling the pan put a reliable mechanical gauge in the oil sender hole to confirm or dispute pressure.
I think you will find lots of pressure or your would have scored a bearing shell hours of use ago.
The top end dryness may be caused by a cam bearing that has turned and will not allow much flow & pressure to the lifters and rockers.
Good luck.