Rocker shaft oil passage?

[Victorslik]

'67 barracuda slant, true barn find(40 yrs off the road), got it running, no oil to rockers. Installed mechanical gauge 40-45 psi idle. Everything I find says oil passage rear shaft bolt with "special bolt". Removed each shaft bolt none are special(no banjo style bolts or relief cuts). Used a welding wire and cant find any oil passage through any rocker stand. Also used 10' phillips screw driver and a hammer at rear rocker stand and can't get past 2 3/4' deep. Rockers are adjustable, seems it is a little over 100k miles, original and never been apart(based on old caked on grease solidified sludge). Rocker shaft seemed to be over half full of the old oil but has run 15-20 minutes total time getting it to run w/o seeing any oil to rockers. I want to find the actual passage and make sure it's open but find none. Carb & water pump replaced. tune up, radiator repaired want to test drive it but a lilttle stumped on not finding that oil passage in the rear most rocker pedestal. Is there something different about this early of a slant (referring to the oil passage). Service manual only says be sure to install long retainer in center position only and install long bolt rear of the the engine. It does show an image of the head inverted pointing out the oil passage which looks really small, maybe too small for my phillips to pass? Anybody know just how big this passage is? Thoughts/comments? Should we just soak the top end down in oil and try driving it in the driveway a bit see what happens or continue trying to get an oil passage opened up? Thanks...

 

[RustyRatRod]

The special bolt came about sometime in the mid 1970s. All before that had the same bolts holding the shaft down. The slant 6 gets what I call "just enough" oil to the rockers to survive. It's never anything to write home about, but they do get enough. Is it totally DRY on top, or is there a little bit of an oil film? The little hot slant 6 I have in my 64 Valiant, Vixen holds 70-75 PSI hot and it gets oil to the top "good" but it doesn't soak everything down with the valve cover off.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Are you probing the oil passage, or the rocker bolt hole? Here is an oiling diagram that shows the oil passage off to the passenger's side of the rear most rocker pedestal at an angle. 2 3/4" seems about right since you're probably running into that head bolt. You might remove the entire rocker assembly and spin the engine to see if oil comes out of the passage. It won't be a geyser, but it should be a very noticeable flow.

 

[volaredon]

Look down that bolt hole and you'll see a 2nd smaller hole that intersects the bolt hole at an angle. There's no 10' Phillips (your words) that will go down that hole. Really 10feet? The hole oil comes out of is smaller diameter than the bolt hole. Also could be the rocker shaft is clogged. Oil comes up that rocker stand and then feeds thru the shaft. Especially on something sitting that long, any oil left there from 40 years ago could be a sludge now.

 

[Victorslik]

Ok thanks, images I've seen showed side view looked like straight vertical passage, i am running into the bottom of the bolt thread boss. Running a drill through it (as I've seen mentioned) must be with the head off. And yes fat finger typo, 10" long screwdriver. Thinking about it, actual run time is less than 5 minutes. Now that we have a functioning water pump and radiator we are going to try running back and forth in the drive a bit see what we get. Still no oil at all & I'll pull the rocker assembly completely off and proceed. Thanks again, makes sense.

 

[ardentindustries]

Id pull the rockers off and at least clean the shaft out well. That sludge doesnt "dissolve" very easily.
As mentioned, they dont get much oil up top but with the oil fill cap off while running, you should be able to see fresh oil on the front rocker arms.

 

[Victorslik]

Thanks to all who replied, I thought sure I had posted already but must have missed it somehow, sounds like something I do. After running a bit longer we started getting oil to the top end, now to determine if the slant will survive for some road duty or if have to move right on to hemi swap. Right now sorting out wiring after 40 years hibernation. What is it with rodents and wires. In pinch I've had to strip a wire with my teeth and even new clean wire wasn't appetizing.....anyways.......off to the classified section iso back up lights '67 Merry Christmas and happy/safe holidays to all.