Small block oiling issue

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Sedanman

Sedanman

67-9 Valiant specialist
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I have a 67 Valiant with the factory 273 still in it. It had the heads redone before I bought it. I decided to adjust the valves & noticed that the passenger side head doesn't seem to be getting much oil if any. I took both rocker assy's off & blew out the oil hole & it barely has any flow which concerns me. When I took the rocker assy's off,the DS shaft poured oil out & the PS haed a few drips. Where would you check the source? It's my daily driver
 
do you have an oil pressure gauge? not a dummy light but an actual gauge?. if not, i would get one. is it making any noise? remember rule of thumb is 10lbs for every 1000 rpm. my 360 is fresh. it runs at 65 cold, once it warms up it drops to around 20-25. when i take my covers off, i dont have a bunch of oil up top either.
 
The rocker shafts have to be installed right. Think there is a top and bottom and a notch in one end. If I remember right that notch faces down towards the crank not up. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
 
i didnt even think about that. the notch faces down and to the firewall on the passenger side and down, to the front of the car on the drivers side
 
Sedanman said:
I have a 67 Valiant with the factory 273 still in it. It had the heads redone before I bought it. I decided to adjust the valves & noticed that the passenger side head doesn't seem to be getting much oil if any. I took both rocker assy's off & blew out the oil hole & it barely has any flow which concerns me. When I took the rocker assy's off,the DS shaft poured oil out & the PS haed a few drips. Where would you check the source? It's my daily driver
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What do you mean you "blew out the oil hole"? On an LA the cam has to be in exactly the right position for oil to feed the rocker arms and it's a different position from side to side. If you remove the rocker shafts and crank the engine oil should shoot out the oil holes on each side equally but not at exactly the same time since as I stated earlier the cam has to be in the right position for it to feed oil to each bank.

BTW: is this a new car you just got or something that you've had for a long time?
 
As far as the notches facing the correct direction, that won't affect how much oil the shafts/rockers get. The notches need to be facing down to oil the bottom side of the rocker arms (the high pressure or stress point). If their facing up it'll oil the low pressure point.
 
I have an oil guage & it reads at 50psi at start up & comes down to 25 when warm @ idle. I did make sure the the rocker oil grooves were facing down but I will triple check it for the notch. Thanks for all the input!
 
What rpm did you take the oil pressure readings at? If that was idle oil pressure it's fine. If it was at 2000 rpm like the FSM states it's pretty low.
 
I took a look at the old ones & there is a notch on the bottom end of each of the shafts. I don't see any size difference in the bolt hole (oblonging). Are they supposed to be facing a certain way?
 
Notches point down and "in" towards the center of the engine, and should be in the front of engine on driver side, toward rear of engine on pass. side.
 
Yep,that's where they were. I took the right head back apart & cranked the engine over & no oil comes out. Is it possible that the shop the previous owner took it to put the head gasket on wrong or a possible spun cam bearing? I'm running out of ideas that don't require me taking the engine apart.
 
If you had the head off.....and you were crank the eng over, it should have shot oil OVER THE FENDER!

Cam bearing spun or installed wrong.

did any oil come out of the passage in the block that feeds oil to the head? is there a set screw plugging that passage?
 
Cudafever said:
If you had the head off.....and you were crank the eng over, it should have shot oil OVER THE FENDER!

Cam bearing spun or installed wrong.

did any oil come out of the passage in the block that feeds oil to the head? is there a set screw plugging that passage?
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I don't think the head has come off yet.
 
Someone told me to crank it over with the rocker shaft off to see if oil comes out & it does not.
 
sounds like you have a cam bearing issue, either it was installed wrong or the bearing has shifted covering the oil hole. the bearings closer to the rear of the engine is probably the culprit.
 
It's possible the cam bearing spun but you'd think it would be squawling becaise it would also shut off the oil supply to that cam journal. Sedann man I'm not positive but I believe it's a straight enough shot through the oil hole in the rocker stand to the cam bearing that you should be able to run a real long drill bit down through the hole to see if maybe some crud plugged up the hole. You could also use a long piece of wire but it won't pull crap back out like a drill bit. And you could also run it down both sides and see if it goes in the same ammount. If it goes less on the one side it might indicate a spun cam bearing.

BTW: the head gaskets have locating dowel pins that prevent installing them wrong. If you try to install the head gasket upside down it won't go on.
 
I tried the wire kit & it bottoms out on both heads. So it must take a turn down in the head. The #4 crank journal is the supply line to the cam,to the PS head. I am at a crossroad as to just swap in my rebuilt 340 or try & figure out what the deal is with this engine. I wasn't planning to do the the swap until I had the engine bay painted which wasn't until Oct. I hate to invest much $ into something that is going to be yanked in a month & put on the stand which is why I'm looking for an easy fix so I can still drive it until then.
 
Aint that the way it always goes. In your original post you said it's your daily driver and you decided to adjust the valves. Was it giving a problem? Noisy? How do the bottom sides of the pass side rocker arms look? Are they galled or scored or overheated looking? If their not they must be getting enough lubrication to make them happy.
 
It didn't seem to have the best oil flow to the PS but was enough to run but now I'm thinking that was a sign. I have started pulling the motor. I have decided to just swap in my new drivetrain & will be able to work out the bugs before I have to yank it again to redo the engine bay in a month. Thanks for the input!
 
It's more work but it's definetly better to get the bugs worked out then paint it. I had my engine bay repainted last year and then installed my new 408. No matter how careful you are a wrench will slip off or you'll drop something on the new paint and chip it up. I bet I've got 10-12 chips in my new paint. It's really frustrating to say the least.
 
Well well well....looky what I found in the pan & pick up :(

I don't think the drivetrain has EVER been apart before
 

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