The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 235 oil plumbing

I've read my Shop Manual and dozens of threads in this forum, but I'm still confused about oil flow in my rebuilt '59 235. Did I install this copper tube correctly?? The tube appears to carry oil from a drilled passage in the head to the rocker arm shaft. Is this correct?

The shop manual calls this tube an "overflow tube" which confuses me. The shop manual seems to suggest that oil is flowing the opposite direction through this tube - from the rocker arm shaft into the head. Which is it? How does oil get from the drilled passage to the rocker arms, and how does oil return to the pan? The good news is, I'm getting a lot of oil up top. It almost seems like too much. The oil basically squirts out of the holes in each rocker arm, and then down through the push-rod passages in the head. As always, thanks for the advice!

It looks right to me..........

if you're getting plenty of oil up there yo got it right. The oil comes from the rear cam bearing up to the head through that tube, it them goes in the rocker arm shaft and out the holes in the rocker arms, then drains back to the oil pan to start the trip all over. The only thing that looks odd to me is the washer you have next to the oil tube, it appears to have ridges on it, if I remember it was a smooth washer, and the pushrod on the rocker arm at the left side of the picture looks different, did you change it, is that valve adjusted, it looks odd to me. There are different length push rods, it looks like one from a later motor.

It sounds as if you have the Shop manual. The later 235s and 261s use a different method for getting oil to the rocker arms than was used for the previous two decades. Most (nearly all) of my direct experience has been with the 1954 and earlier 235s and 261s. On the earlier engines, the overflow tube just dumped the excess oil back into the top of the head.

However, as I now have a 1961 261 that I will be soon rebuilding, I have been closely following all of the posts concerning the later rocker arm oiling questions, and there have been a lot of them, both here and on the Inliner's site.

As Tommy said, if you see oil coming out of the hole at the top of each rocker arm, all is probably ok. I would also be concerned about that one push rod appearing to be too long, as it appears that that valve may be at the end of its adjustment.

Hoyt

Ahh, okay, I think I finally get it. On the earlier 235's, the end of the copper tube was open and it dumped excess oil onto the head. That's why it was called the overflow pipe. Later model 235's, like mine, pinched the end of the overflow pipe closed to create more oil pressure in the rocker shaft. The tube no longer acts as an overflow pipe. Now, it forces all of the oil through the rocker shaft.

The photo was taken before the engine was running and before any of the valves were adjusted. I've since adjusted the valves. The push rod that appears to be too long is just right once the valves were adjusted.

I always prime the new motor via a loooong screwdriver or rod down to the oil pump and run it until you are sure you are getting plenty of oil topside.