Hello all
I'm new here but I've been a lurker for some time. After searching the message board I'm still in the dark. I am getting almost zero oil up into the rocker arm shaft. The 1975 slant 6 with 1966 head only has about 100 miles on it. During my initial valve lash adjustment I do not recall seeing any oil flying out. I pulled the cover to do a valve adjustment and then I notice an almost bone dry head, especially towards #1 cylinder. After 7 Coors I narrowed it down to the rear cam bearing. It MUST be installed wrong. I will find out soon.
My problem is the rocker shaft and 4 out of 12 arms are fried. I can not find that original shaft anywhere. Can I use the later (hydraulic??) shaft with new rocker arms? OR...what would you do moving forward? By the way its in a 1954 Willys Wagon so its not really a race car. But low end torque would be nice.
Thanks in advance
Howard

The hydraulic shaft has the rocker oiling holes in a different location, so I wouldn't recommend using that. There are probably several members on this site that have good used rocker assemblies.
I should have some, also.
Another option would be http://www.rockerarms.com/ Their part number PL-33

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 225 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170

Where a bouts are you located? Maybe someone on here that's close by could help with parts, know how, or both

Remove the rocker shaft and crank the engine over without spark plugs.
You should get a good amount of oil coming out the last rocker pedestal.
This should give some information on where the trouble is.

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Hyper_pak

Thank you guys. Rocker Arm Specialists is literally 1/2 mile from my work. I just drove down and dropped off my rockers. He will replace the shaft and check out the rockers, maybe replace the adjusting screws. They seem to know what they are doing and I'll report back.
As far as the main issue...no oil. I cranked it over pretty good and with 40psi on the gauge I wasn't getting a drop up top. I removed the head and checked the head gasket wasn't plugging the hole. Ran a thin wire from the rocker hold down bolt through the head, past the head bolt, and out the bottom of the head. Did the same to the block and by best guess it made it all the way to the cam bearing. Only thing I can't tell is if the oil hole in the bearing is lined up.
I'll find out this weekend when I pull the cam. Willy has 2 weeks to make cool April nights up here...or else.

Check the orientation of the oil holes in the rear cam journal. They might be drilled wrong. That is not a uncommon problem. There were a lot of cam blanks that were made wrong. If you have another rear cam bearing, put it on the cam (out of the engine) and see if the holes line up. If they don't you can use a rotary burr, and "slot" the holes slightly (like doing the oil holes on the crank). or do like I do, and use a die grinder and cutoff wheel, and put a groove all the way around the rear cam journal (not the bearing). It does not have to be wide or deep.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 225 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170

Charrlie, I have a Racer Brown cam with a fully grooved rear cam journal.
I thought that was a Hydraulic cam design.
Would that put to much oil on the top of the engine?
With my current pump, stock Melling with a higher pressure spring and I get a TON of oil up top.

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Hyper_pak

The groove on the rear journal was added for the hydraulic lifter cams, but I think (not sure) all the blanks have the groove now. I just ran into this again, today. Went to put a new (old) cam in my motor, and found the holes do not match the cam bearing. So, tomorrow, I get out the die grinder, with a 1/8 inch cutoff wheel, and groove the rear journal. I do it "freehand" and not deep. Not pretty, but it works for me. If I have the head off the engine, I tap the oil feed hole in the rocker stand (I think 1/4 inch) then screw in a 1/4 in set screw with a metering hole. That way, if I need to adjust the oil flow, I just need to remove the rocker assy, and change the "jet".

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 225 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170

Great thoughts by everyone above.

My guess is that the rear cam bearing "spun" a little and the top hole is now covered. If the cam was tight (hard to rotate) when installing, you need to massage the rear bearing a bit with crocus cloth, or polish down the rear cam journal. Once I had this happen after installing a new MP cam and I was able to pull the cam and head and run a long drillbit down the oil hole in the block and redrill the top cam bearing hole. The bottom hole overlaps a long slot in the block so it is hard to block that one. Then I used a different (reground used) cam and had no troubles and oil was restored. I ran this engine for 25 yrs after doing that cam hole drilling...

I also think adding a small groove could help with oiling, but I have never run a cam on a solid lifter motor with a groove and always have plenty of oil (except for that spun bearing). The groove will probably give you too much and you can restrict the oil hole in the block by pressing in a little homemade brass orifice (like a piece of tubing) just into the deck surface. I bet you could also choose just the right kind of rear rocker shaft bolt that would partially limit flow if it were closer to the same diameter as the hole in the head, compared to a stock bolt.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

You guys have really given me some great thoughts. I will be looking at it this weekend. I imagined the bearing installed wrong and not 'spun'. I hope it didn't spin. Should the bearing be staked? I also noticed a popular mod is to cut the groove in the cam and then restrict the flow to the head with a 7/64 orifice hole.
This motor is something I can play with being its not my daily driver and my wife doesn't mind me (yet) out in the garage.

Once you get it right there will be no need to "improve" the oiling.
It works fine when assembled correctly.
Waiting to hear what you find out!

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Hyper_pak

It is common for new cams and newly installed cam bearings to make it a tight fit with the rear bearing and bind/drag when rotated, so sometimes they spin. Removing material (usually from bearing) is the solution. I have never modified oiling on any of my engines and have never had major wear issues (only some extra wear when road racing at high RPM and with a big cam).

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Well I never....
Upon draining the oil to pull the motor I noticed a strong smell of gasoline. Oil looked fine in the drain pan. It suddenly dawned on me to pull the cover off the oil pump and when I did, about 1/2 a glass of gas poured out. Carburetor seemed ok and I have a brand new fuel pump, with a small pin hole in it. The oil pump would make the pressure gauge register 40psi but it wasn't pumping oil, mainly gas.
On the down side, most bearings look to have been driven 100k miles. On the up side I found a huge crack in the harmonic balancer.