The oil supply line that passes through the water jacket to the pushrod valley and eventually attaches to the oil connector has traditionally been made of copper, since a steel line would rust out and put oil into the coolant. It's a 3/16" diameter tube, which is a bit difficult to find at times. I'm wondering if the dark green colored copper/nickel tubing that's being sold for brake lines would be a suitable substitute? Yes, I know there is a "kit" available from the resto-ripoff places that contains a length of copper tubing and all the associated specialty fittings- - - -I just hate to get bent over by the outrageous prices some of those places charge for common hardware items! Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
If the proper hardware is used at both ends of the water jacket, there should be no need to solder the tubing. The small self-crimping nut that is a one-time use item, and the corresponding female-threaded bushing it threads into will seal the tube sufficiently without any solder. All it has to seal is cooling system pressure- - - -7 PSI at most, and zero in some older cooling systems. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Most all hardware stores stock 3/16" copper tubing (52Carl knows how I know this). It is not that un-common a size on the hardware side...might be in the automotive industry though. Weatherhead #6100X3 is the crimp nut, Weatherhead #202X5 is the bushing that screws into the block that the crimp nut fits. Napa sells both.
I personally used copper tubing on my 216, (if I remember correctly, that was HRL's advice to me....so listen to yourself). The copper allows for some flexing and bending, and you ARE going to need to do some flexing and bending, as you well know. Stainless would be my only other idea of what to use, but finding it would be fun, and it ain't gonna be agreeable like copper is. For me, anything that could rust or corrode, (like the steel brake lines), is out.
Several feet of copper and a few of those fittings is way cheaper than one of those 'kits'.
Yep, it's probably best to go with something that's worked for 70-something years. The "216" I'm building will have 40-something PSI of oil pressure or more in that line at times, but that's still within the working range of copper tubing. How strange is that?- - - - - -a 216 with real oil pressure? Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
I almost ended up getting the copper-nickel tubes for my fuel lines... and kind of wish I would have instead of stainless for ease of bending & sealing.
Average internet opinion indicates that it's superior to plain copper with regard to bending fatigue and strength.
the brake line material might not like the heat and would corrode over time.I'm with the guys, copper is easy. i'm having a whale of a time finding a 3/16 reducing bushing to 1/8 to install new oil lines to the filter at that same location. The block on the other side for the other line is 1/8 pipe and so are both sides on the filter.
Larry Old man᠁Old truck᠁neither one goes very fast. All you need in life is TIME, PATIENCE and MONEY. If you are missing one component, you'll need an abundance of the others two.
My block feed line looks like this and the open 3/16 compression fitting goes up to the return (bottom) of the oil filter.
Larry Old man᠁Old truck᠁neither one goes very fast. All you need in life is TIME, PATIENCE and MONEY. If you are missing one component, you'll need an abundance of the others two.
Folks, 37 GC and I have been PM-ing back and forth trying to get his oil lines hooked up, and now I'm stumped.
This fitting we see here in his picture, he needs to hook his oil filter canister line to this opening.....anybody have an idea what size this is? Or what thread it may be?
37 GC, what engine, and what year engine is this on?
My goodness, that's a tricky one... i think i found one:
I would double check with a bolt first. See if a 3/8-24 bolt starts into the fitting (that i think you're saying is on the 3/16 line), also check if a 5/16-24 nut goes onto the oil line (that I think you're saying is 1/8). If so, it seems like a 37° JIC fitting.
It’s a ‘39 216. After cleaning it up, it is a cast brass T. Going into the engine is indeed a male 3/16 pipe thread, going out the top is a male flare 1/8” for the copper line going back into the block via another adapter, probably 1/4” threaded into the block. The horizontal exit out of the T is the female one shown in the pic and the local hydraulic hose and bearing specialty shop guy says it is a double flare 3/16”. This is what I need adapted to my 1/8” pipe thread hose that goes to the bottom of the old time fram filter. He says his modern 3/16 flare is different and will not seal as it bottoms the threads out before sealing. Whew got that? Lol still unsolved. Need to replace this odd T to something adaptable.
Larry Old man᠁Old truck᠁neither one goes very fast. All you need in life is TIME, PATIENCE and MONEY. If you are missing one component, you'll need an abundance of the others two.
Larry Old man᠁Old truck᠁neither one goes very fast. All you need in life is TIME, PATIENCE and MONEY. If you are missing one component, you'll need an abundance of the others two.
Here is my final solution to my T problem. 1/8” fip T. 1/8”x close pipe nipple. 1/8”mip to 3/16” compression adapter for the copper tube that feeds the top of the engine. The horizontal 1/8” Pipe opening is the return to the oil filter. Instead of Teflon tape or pipe dope on the adapters I fluxed the threads and tightened then soldered the joints. My 216 will probably have enough seepage without 2 more!
Larry Old man᠁Old truck᠁neither one goes very fast. All you need in life is TIME, PATIENCE and MONEY. If you are missing one component, you'll need an abundance of the others two.
Martin '62 Chevy C-10 Stepside Shortbed (Restomod in progress) '47 Chevy 3100 5 Window (long term project) ‘65 Chevy Biscayne (Emily) ‘39 Dodge Business Coupe (Clarence) “I fought the law and the law won" now I are a retired one! Support those brave men/women who stand the "Thin Blue Line"! Hug a cop! USAF 1965-1969 Weather Observation Tech (I got paid to look at the clouds)
The tricky part of replacing that oil tube is routing it properly so the push rod cover will fit tight against the head. You have to go up from the fitting in the block high enough to go over the indent in the cover then make your bend to the right. Then make the bend up to connect to rocker arm shaft. Refer to thread from a couple weeks ago about this issue I need to find a replacement for the brass fitting that attaches the oil line to the rocker arm shaft.
This thread may never go away! So today I put everything back together on the engine preparing to fire it up. I poured oil on the rocker arm shaft so it didn't start running while it was dry. It fired right up and runs good but...... no oil coming out of the rocker arms. darn it- I thought I had it done. I disconnected the oil tube at the rocker arm shaft and started the engine - no oil coming out of the tube. The oil gauge is showing 14 lbs so I think that's OK. I disconnected the oil tube on the drivers side and have good pressure there so it's just not getting through the tube. I'm thinking I may have kinked it trying to bend it so it was tight enough to the engine so the push rod cover would seal. Looks like tomorrow it will be time to take it back apart again. On a side note- the block crack repair seems to have been successful so at least I have that going for me.
Kades 51 You know my predecessor who was Chevy gave me a pile of fittings 44 years ago. That is what those are for,like oil line fittings only big !! Glad I saved em,never fought that mess yet !!
I took the cover off and eased the bend in the oil tube a little and now have oil at the rockers. Took the old girl for a little ride around the block so that was fun. Now on to the next thing. I see that the vacuum advance isn’t working so I will get to learn about how to fix that
If you disconnect the vacuum line at the distributor and attach a vacuum gauge to the line, the vacuum should build up gradually as the engine speed is increased- - - -little or no gauge reading at idle, and almost equal to full manifold vacuum at around 1500 RPM or more. If that works, chances are there's a hole in the rubber diaphragm of the advance unit. The old scool method of checiikg one was to blow cigarette smoke into the fitting and see of it comes out on the linkage side, Now it's probably better to use a hand held "Mityvac" pump adapted to the vacuum chamber with a short piece of fkared tubing. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
