The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop PushRods for 1950 3100 PU

I thought the pushrods were basically hollow tubes so it can get oil up to the valves and rocker arm assembly. I pulled my head to have it looked at and all of the pushrods appear to be solid with no opening at either end.

They're solid. Stovebolts use either a 3/16" OD tube or internal passages in the block and head for the oil supply to the rocker arms, depending on the year and size of the engine you're working on. The "oil connector" at the center of the two rocker shafts gets the oil, and distributes it to the rockers down the hollow shafts.
Jerry

The engines in these old trucks were oiled from the rocker arm shafts by way of a passage in the block. Later model 6cyl engines ( 194 ,230 ,250,292) were oiled thru the push rods.

Thanks.. That make sense.. Just thought it odd the pushrod were solid

These old engines were designed before the bean counters outnumbered the engineers. Somebody probably figured out it cost a few pennies less per engine to make the pushrods hollow and make them carry the oil.
Jerry

I saw a funny video of a 1953 DeSoto and a 1978 Camaro 60 MPH head-on wreck. The Camaro folded to 3 feet shorter, the DeSoto's hood emblem fell off.
Long, long ago someone asked "why are newer cars so easily damaged in a low speed collision?"
The answer: the exact point in time that GM changed the sheet metal gauge used for fenders, hoods etc. was known, it went something like this.
1930 16 gauge
1950 18 gauge
1970 20 gauge

I grew up around a shop where we did a lot of frame straightening. I can vividly remember the bloody interiors of some of the relatively lightly-damaged cars with bent steering wheels and head-sized holes in the windshields that we worked on. Back then it was common practice to clean up the blood and gore, do a little minor body and frame repair, and sell the "totaled" car to someone else. Now the cars sacrifice themselves to keep the people inside alive. Some people actually think that's a good thing.
Jerry

LOL
Used to be the gene pool got purged.

Yep, speeders and drunks used to be higher up on the ladder in the competition for Darwin Awards!
Jerry

We used to call those people "repeat customers".

Not to run this thread further off the rails, but you may find this interesting.

At first glance, you would think the '59 is going to cream that little Malibu. Granted, its an offset collision (worst case), as opposed to a direct head on. However, this would be one time that I would rather be in the new car..

crash

I wonder how many of them old classics they have tucked away for just such tests?

I'd love to see that 53 DeSoto VS. 78 Camaro one.