The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Very little oil flow to rockers

I just "inherited" a '59 Apache 31 from my dad who is tired of having it in his backyard. My grandfather bought it brand new in 59, my dad bought it from him in 67, so it's been in the family its whole life.

I am very automotive-challenged but I'm learning alot lately and having a good time with it...this weekend I pulled the rocker arm assembly and pushrods, gave them a good soaking and cleaned with a stiff brush, then reassembled. I also removed the oil connector plug from the side and sprayed WD40 in there to clean it. I'm getting almost no oil out of the rocker arms.

If I have read correctly, there is no oil feed tube going from the rear cam bearing up through the block and out through the oil feed pipe? I already checked the oil feed pipe when I pulled the rocker arm assembly. Although I soaked the rocker arm for several hours, I did not check the oil hole in each rocker for clogs....

I show good pressure on the instrument gauge.

Any ideas where the problem might be?

Thanks!!!

At the rocker arms you will only get a slow drip, especially if its cold. After warm up the flow should increase. Chevy kept changing the route for oil to the rockers, my 61 has a drilled head bolt, others have different routes for oil. You will need a shop manual for your year to know for sure.

Thanks for the reply....I'm not getting any drip at all. I do have the shop manual but wasn't able to figure this out by reading it.

I have a 60 Panel w/235 and when I tore the rocker assembly apart the shafts were badly scored so i purchased new ones. The holes for that line up with the rockers are only on one side where as the holes for the mounting towers go all the way through. Which way do the holes go? Do they face up to line up with the holes in the rockers or down?
One I can not find it in my shop manual and two maybe you have a similar issue with low oil up appearing to be up top.

I'm not familiar with the plumbing on the "new" engines but there's never a heavy flow of oil to the rockers. As Cofe noted make sure the holes in the rocker shafts are down. If not the rocker arms will be running dry while the slow feed fills the shafts.

The diagram shows facing up, but I'm not sure that's important except that it will slow drainage when the engine is off.
What is important is that 1959-63 engines have the oil groove in a different place - offset 1/4" closer to the nearest stand, and this groove must align with the shaft hole. The small hole in the rocker ID feeds the squirter, and need not align.

You lost me there....is there a diagram you could point me to? Thanks

i have 54 3104 with a later head also have outside manifold mounted oil filter i plugged the the tube in side the pushrod side of the block and removed a plug in the head on the pushrod side and ran a line to the head with a tee in the filter line. i also have a melling oil pump with 45 psi at speed 30 at idle with the valve cover off oil comes out the rockers used to burn em up before i did this also have viton valve seals on the guides.rods at .oo1" cl mains shimmed to .0015" also put a hydro cam and lifters in.sounds like a sewin machine runnin.no oil consumption yet.

i just broke in a 59 with plenty of oil going to the rockers with oil spewing everywhere due to the excessive wear in the rocker bores on some of the rockers on the front of the engine. there are rockers that were either flooding the top of the rocker out of the oil hole and two that had oil dripping out of the bottoms on the rear of the head. for me i think when i get the new rockers, oil will be distributed equally due to the tighter bores thus pushing oil out where its supposed to with more than just a dribble. when i ran the engine before i tore it down the rockers were not getting oil. the engine also had an external line from the connection from the main oil galley to the connection on the side of the head for an additional oil supply along with oil coming up from the cam oil galley thru the head bolt with a hole in it. tim lederman and i had a lengthly phone conversation over the plumbing of this engine. when i tore the engine down both the oil line and the passage from the cam oil galley were plugged with sludge. the bolt with the hole drilled in it was also blocked which explains why the rockers werent getting any oil plus the excessive wear on the rocker shafts proved that.

sludge may be blocking your lines to the head. since your head has a plug in it (the one under the side cover) remove the plug and install a short nipple and elbow to direct the oil back into the oil drain hole by the lifters and run your oil pump with a drill and see how much oil comes out. if you get a good flow then any supply issue is after this point if not maybe your pick up screen is blocked at the pump. if you get good flow remove the fitting and plug the head and remove the plug at the top of the head (above side cover) and add the fittings there and repeat the process. if you get little or no oil then the bolt passage and the hole in the bolt may be plugged. if you get good oil flow there then the passage between the bolt and the oil tube that distributes oil across the rocker shaft is blocked. based on what i saw on mine it was all blocked like hardening of the arteries. the real choke off points are in the head itself because the oil comes from the front and rear cam bearings with a good flow of oil providing the cam oil galley is relatively clean. because of the reduced flow because of the size of the oil passage in the head and only a 1/8" hole in the head bolt that will be the area of the clogged artery. i studyied mine throughly when i got the engine back from the builder. i also used air to check all the passages first for flow to insure i didnt need to use the external oil line if i didnt have to. i sent tim the pics of everything on mine maybe he can post a link to them that is if he alreadt uploaded them to his site.

your pick up screen is blocked at the pump

If so, the crank is already toast.

panic,

Are you talking to 51ashton or me, or both?

he's talking to you. mine is spotless. just curious. what's the oil pressure when engine is running. you may have enough oil going to the crank and i wouldnt rule it as toast unless further investagation in that area is accomplished and the results of what was observed are disclosed.

before my rebuild oil wasnt getting to the rockers but it was getting to the mains/rods/cam bearings and the screen was partially blocked. further investagation at the machine shop proved that oil was getting to the mains because the machinist only needed to polish the crank and installed standard size bearings

The oil pressure is where it should be according to the instrument panel gauge

It was my understanding that the head bolt on a 59 was neither slotted nor hollowed, just a regular head bolt....am I mistaken in this? I thought the only reason you would have a slotted/drilled head bolt was if the lower was older than a 59?

according to the instrument panel gauge what pressure is that? 0,5,15,35,40 psi

i think so.

not long ago there was a topic about this head bolt. you should be able to find it if you do a search in this shop.

Sorry, 35

RCN, before you get to worked up, check the side cover behind the distributor. there is a very small oil line that brings the oil from the rear cam bearing to the head for the rocker arms. It doesn't take much to clog this up, so remove it and clean it, blow through it with air.

Tommy, that supply line was dropped in 1958. 1958-62 rocker oil is supplied though a cast in galley.