No oil reaching rockers on a 360

[knucklebuster]

I just bought a 72 f250 with a 360 in it. It had been sitting for many years before I got it. I was able to get it running, however, oil flow has been minimal at best to rockers. I assumed the pickup screen was clogged with sludge, so I replaced the pump and screen with new parts. There was a small amount of sludge in the bottom of the pan, but no metal whatsoever. Cylinder walls looked great, and nothing looked too unusual. Once I got it running again, still no oil reaching the rockers. Pressure is fine on the gauge. What could cause this? Do the rocker shaft bolts have to be in a specific order, or does that matter?

[eggman918]

I think that 1 bolt on each side is longer it goes in the one that feeds the oil to rocker rail.low PSI could be cam bearing wear,maybe blocked oil galley, but if low on both sides i think cam bearings.maybe someone will be moor help

[FordHam]

Could be junk in the pushrods blocking oil flow? This happened to one of my 302's.

[eggman918]

FE pushrods don"t carry oil the rocker rail carry's it

[FordHam]

I know not of which I speak.

[eggman918]

FE"s are OLD motors i think the oiling system was primitive in'59 so dont feel bad

[FORDification]

Oil to the rockers is fed through a small hole at the base of the rocker pedestal. One of the regularly-suggested oiling improvement mods for high-performance use is to restrict oil to the rockers, keeping more oil down low around the main and rod bearings, where it's needed more. Oil is restricted by inserting a Holley carburetor jet into that orifice. (An alternate method is to use the ball end of a Chevy pushrod, which is a perfect slip fit.) You might want to check to see if someone has attempted such a mod, and if perhaps they used too small of a jet which is not allowing enough oil through. Here's a couple pictures borrowed from a thread at FordFE.com which shows the Holley jet inserted into the head:

[knucklebuster]

Thanks gents, I will investigate. So as far as the rocker bolts, does anybody know more about specific placement or differences between them? They appear to be stock.

[DuckRyder]

There is a rocker bolt which is slightly longer and has a reduced shank, that bolt goes in the hole that feeds the rocker shafts which is the hole Keith posted the photo of. It is the second or third hole depending on which side of the engine, unfortunately, I don't remember which is which...

[fordman]

is that jet just held in place by wedging it into place?

[DuckRyder]

is that jet just held in place by wedging it into place?

Yes, once the bolt is in it can't come out. You don't want very much restriction on factory rockers.

[knucklebuster]

Ok so I checked the rocker shaft bolts, and they are different. I had them in the correct order, and the longer bolt with necked down shank was in the hole with the oil gallery. I hit the oil holes with compressed air, and checked the rocker shaft for blockage. After reassembly, oil flow was better, but not much. Perhaps I am just used to the high volume pumps and hollow pushrods on SBC engines, and these FE's just don't lift that much to the valvetrain. I will replace the oil filter again and see if that helps. I just want to resolve the problem before damage is done.

[FORDification]

Actually, one of the biggest oiling-related problems with FE's is that they typically flow TOO much oil up under the valve covers, which is the reason why many people use the restrictors, something that's almost mandatory with a high-volume oil pump. The oil gets pooled up under the valve covers because it's coming up faster than it can drain back, starving the bottom end.

If you're still not getting that much oil up on top, then there's something else wrong. I'm guessing that there's blockage in the oil gallery leading to the heads. One possibility is that the cam bearings were installed incorrectly (or have spun), partially blocking the oil hole leading to the rockers. However, the number 2 cam bearing supplies oil to the left head, the number 4 cam bearing supplies it to the right. Have you checked oil flow on both heads? Is flow equally reduced to both sides or just one? If just one side, then I'd venture a guess that a cam bearing has spun. If both sides...I'm not sure, I doubt both cam bearings would have spun, though nothing's impossible.



Having said that, I'm not sure how much of an issue a spun cam bearing would cause, since the bearings are grooved, which should still allow oil to flow. However (and I'm just thinking out loud here), if the cam bearing were to spin, blocking the hole, you would still get SOME oil via the cam bearing groove, but not the full amount. Also, on an FE, the cam gets oil first, then the crankshaft (via the camshaft bearing hole), so if a bearing did spin, it's also going to affect oil to the main bearings.

What I would do is remove the distributor and rocker shafts, and then spin the oil pump with a drill motor (use a 1/2" drill). See what the oil flow out that hole in the head is...it should spew like a geyser.

[eggman918]

If you use a socket on an extension,put a bit of blue locktite between socket and extension.Once I did it and the socket stuck to oil pump shaft

[Dragon]

On the FE as said above you cannot have a spun cam bearing that causes a restriction to the top end. Behind the bearing is a fill circle groove that moves oil to the lifter gallery. You can have several lifters that leak bad that would cause a loss of rocker oil pressure. Another thing is if someone changed the head gaskets and put them on the wrong side then you get low flow on some versions of gaskets because they don't have a normal size oil hole in them. Like taking the right side gasket and turning it over so the top is on the bottom you will find the gaskets are not the same on each end. No Holley Jets or cheby pushods around use the threaded part of a 1/4 inch bolt or 1/4 all thread and drop it in the oil hole.

I got tired of getting the engine and me wet with oil when I adjusted my solid lifters with the engine running. I knew that oil passage was there and walked over to the bench and had some 1/4 inch all thread and bang the mother of invention rose up.