oiling mods for dummies

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swifter

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I have read thru the small block oiling mods so many times ive made my brain dizzy-ok i have a 72 360 L.A. Block with bushed lifter bores and have problems with not enough oil getting to the rods and mains, we oil the rockers and springs with spray bars so the main oil to the heads is blocked, what mods do i need to do to get better oiling to the rods and mains???? Do i need the crossover or not? ?? Thanks Steve
 
So, those spray bars are continuous feed?
And you're burning up bearings?
And you're running what kind of oilpump
And your oil-pressure is?
What kinda Rpms are you turning?
What kinda competition?
 
Guitar Jones has a real nice write up on oiling mods.
 
Without writing a book about our motor-we just had it rebuilt, the rebuilder missed something and we had 6 passes on it and no oil pressure at the last run, shut it off pulled main caps -the mains were fried and so were the rod bearings. So the builder missed ir screwed something up it is at another build here in wis. And we have it torn down-i want to do what mods i need to so we can get as much oil to the mains and rids as possible, we run pro class-7000 rpm max-yes spray bars will be full time -the engine originally came with spray bars the **** build took them off-we did not request it-the car ran flawlessly last season 66 some passes not a problem all we wanted was the motor re ' ringed and bearings so he screwed it up somehow-and yes he specializes in mopars but im not taking it back to him - thanks steve
 
Karl-can u explain to me cross drilling the mains please
 
Cross drilling increases the flow to the rods.
But - with the bars - what size restrictors are used in the lines to feed the bars? There shouldn't be a problem in the basement if the lifters are bushed and the lines to the spray bars are properly restricted. If they are not, you can drill and tap for holley jets or air bleeds and install them in the lines.
 
krazykuda said:
What about cross drilling the mains?
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What about running a full groove main bearing, rather than the most expensive option, which is drilling the crank.
Anyway, if your bleeding oil pressure off somewhere, you need to find that first before you go putting extra demand on the oiling system by modifying it.
 
Yeah, like "whats that plug doing,laying in the oilpan", or "I wonder where that came from",or I wonder where that goes", or "who left that plug out",or "is that a broken drill-bit in there?" or "are those bearings in upside down?",or "I thought there was supposed to be 5 bearings on the cam?",or "is that modified? that cant be right. Who would do a thing like that?idiots.", ETC
 
Exactly aj-i have to take this in my own hands, ive messed with motors most of my life but have not built on and i just want to understand the oiling path on the small block mopar-the engine originally was built by ray barton and the dumb **** this winter messed with the oiling mods ray had done -we are going to full groove H bearings now but i still need to understand the path of oil and do what mods i can do at this time.
 
When we got the motor there was no jets or restrictors in the spray bars-they are -3 lines of the back oil port on the deck to -3 fittings into the tiny spray bars mounted inside of the valve covers
 
We also want to find the oil pick up that mounts to the base of the oil pump so we have a 5/8 pick up instead of stock
 
for a 7000 rpm 360 we do not need to reinvent the stock oil system. do u have : a rear sump pan, full grooved mains, the passages from the passenger side oil galley to the 1-4 mains drilled larger, solid lifters, and what rockers? with warm oil prime the pump without valve covers and see how much oil is up top
 
Years ago there was an article in a car magazine that detailed the SBM oiling system pretty nicely. It would have been pre-2000, and probably an E-Berg story.I performed those mods to my 360, and it lives at 7200. Its been to past 8000, and suffered no damage.
The FSM does a fair job if you have a bit of visualization skills.
I dont know if you can get a 5/8 pick-up.
My pick-up (1/2 inch I believe) was supplied by Milodon to match their roadrace pan and tray.I ported the pump discharge to the rear main cap, and did a bunch of drilling, with very long,expensive drill-bits.It was very scary ramming the smaller one into passages that I knew that if it broke in there, there was no way to get it out.I also modded the filter mounting plate with extra holes, and doubled it up,on account of 15W40 would balloon the one plate and puke oil all over the header.Very scary. Very dangerous.I've been running 10W30 ever since, for about 8 or maybe 10 years,now(street only car).
If you have the engine on a stand, its relatively easy to follow the oil circuit(s).
-Be advised, there is one oil gallery plug that can be easily forgotten. It sits at the back of the engine near the rear cam journal.It is accessed from the bellhouse area, by removing a second plug. I think you can see it from the dizzy opening.Actually I think Trailbeast posted an image of that plug, sometime last week.
 
swifter said:
When we got the motor there was no jets or restrictors in the spray bars-they are -3 lines of the back oil port on the deck to -3 fittings into the tiny spray bars mounted inside of the valve covers
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I think that's your problem. What was the oil pressures while it was running?
 
moper said:
I think that's your problem. What was the oil pressures while it was running?
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Note he said he had the problem after the spray bars were removed. So its probably the plug missing under the rear main cap,I believe 7.125" into the hole
 
Yes-rear sump milidon 9 quart truck pan - putting in full groove bearings-yes problem happened AFTER the guy in indiana screwed with a perfectly good oiling system-last year pretty much 50 lbs of oil pressure average dropped very little when warm. I dont know what pump it had from barton the guy this winter canned it along with screwing our motor up.i will answer every question to the best of my ability.i truely appreciate ALL help i can get-motor was 365 stock stroke with 13 to 1 compression with 308 swirl port heads with a jesel rocker system 1.7 o. Intake 1.6 on exhaust-that was all removed because supposedly the heads were cracked-now eddy headed with 1.5 crane rockers if any of this matters-thanks Steve
 
M880 do u mean the plug that diverts oil to the filter? ????
 
We are planning to stroke the motor at this point cause we have to replace the crank and rods anyway
 
swifter said:
M880 do u mean the plug that diverts oil to the filter? ????
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I "think" thats what he means.
But it's not what I meant. If there was a restriction - not saying there was or wasn't - it would have been removed with the rest of the parts and block hardware to clean. If the guy tearing down wasn't really savvy he might have missed it or assumed it wasn't important. IMO, and understanding that I tend to like the minimum oil pressure for safety, given this was a race engine 50psi is too low, and the fact it never changed tells me the system had problems from the get-go. It should always change a little, and I would have wanted 80psi hot with whatever oil you run if it was expected to shift at 7K.
 
m880 said:
Note he said he had the problem after the spray bars were removed. So its probably the plug missing under the rear main cap,I believe 7.125" into the hole
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^^^^^
This. Check every plug location including the front of the block at the cam plate.
 
Mopar-i get what your saying BUT -All the bearings had VERY minimum wear that were removed so at 50 psi the motor was getting oil to satisfy the bearings-this year 6 passes and the rods-crank-were TOAST -if i knew how to add pics here i would its a pita to do so off my phone-the rod ends were blue from heat along with the crank journals, im looking for help here form the small block experts that have done this before.Hey rusty i know u have all kinds of experience with motors ever seen or heard of such a drastic change.thanks steve
 
Im going to get the block home this weekend-so i can do some investigating on it .steve
 
Another thing to tell u guys with the old combination we were shifting at 6800 and going thru the traps at 7600 last year-and very LITTLE wear on the bearings. Thats why i think its something he missed this winter
 
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