I have a 1975 225 slant 6 that has been rebuilt. I broke it in Saturday, it ran well with an Offenhauser intake and Clifford headers. Today, I was going to lash the valves when I pull off the valve cover and noticed I had no oil to the rocker shaft or to the head. I do have the long bolt at the rear of the engine but that bolt is dry. No oil to the head at all. Is it possible to put the factory head gasket on upside down? Any thoughts would be great. Thank you, Chris

Nope, head gasket will only go one way. Did you replace the cam and/or cam bearings? Rear cam bearing may not be installed correctly. or the cam may not have the oil holes in the rear journal, or they may be in the wrong location. Did you check the engine oil pressure?

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

Yes, I replaced the cam with an MP cam P4120243, 244 duration and .436" lift. The cam bearings were also replaced. I had 45-55psi of oil pressure the entire time during the break in period and I have about 25-35psi at idle. I believe this cam has an oil hole at the rear journal so I probably have a machine shop error on the installation of the cam bearing. That's going to be plenty of work!

I dont know a whole lot on slants. But small block heads have the rockers oiled via some of the rocker hold down bolts. Possibly something there clogged up? justa thought.

_________________
Daily Driver 72 'Cuda
74 Duster /6
http:www.goodysgotacuda.com

Remove the rear rocker screw or the entire shaft and try cranking the engine - oil should come out the rear pedestal after the pump builds up pressure.

If it does, then the cam/bearing is fine, problem is in the shaft and/or rockers.

There have been some instances, of artermarket cams not haveing the intersecting oil holes in the cam, or the distance between the holes not being correct. I have not heard of this problem on the MP cams. More likely the cam bearing, not installed correctly. One thing I would try first, is take a stiff wire or something like that, and run it down the oil hole in the head, to make sure it doesn't have something in there.

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

I went to lash the valves on my newly rebuilt SL6 and I noticed very little oil in the top of the head. So I did what Pierre suggested to check for oil at the rocker post. When I cranked the engine over a got a pulsatting stream about 2-3 inches high. Just not much of it splashes about when you hot lash the valves. I was expecting the oil flow on the order of a Chevy small block with hydraulic lifters (read:spraying everywhere!).

Not so. It just sort of drips out from under the rocker arms.

bwhitejr

_________________
'72 Duster (Performance 360)
'83 Ramcharger (Performance 318)
'80 TrailDuster (360)
'80 D-150 Truck (See Below)
CompCams 252S, Holley 390cfm, Offy manifold
Ported, Polished and Gasket Matched
P4286813 Springs,0.040 Overbore,
0.090 Shaved Head

Dripping out from the rocker arms is pretty normal. Sounds like you are OK. Your rocker shaft or rockers may be a bit clogged if they haven't ever been cleaned so it might be work taking them to a shop and getting them cleaned.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Don't get too excited just yet. I had the same thing freak me out after my son and I rebuilt his slant. We got everything back in place and began the break-in. Like you said, no oil in the rockers. The head had been blasted clean and we installed bearings, rockers, and shaft correctly.

Being completely new to engine rebuilding, especially a slant, I didn't know about the oil passage coming up through the rear rocker pedestal and that it should be checked for blockage. After someone (maybe on this board) mentioned it, I took a small screwdriver and began poking around inside the pedestal until I found a soft spot in one of the side walls. I jammed the screwdriver down and broke through 30 years of caked and baked crud that was blocking the oil passage. Rodded it out good, had my son tap the starter, got myself a good splash of oil all down my shirt, laughed a little (mostly from relief than from the oil bath), and put it all back together. The hole is there, you just might have to find it under a lot of sludge.

By the way, you might as well rod out the oil passages in the rocker arms while you have them off. I used a very thin wire (like a guitar E string) to clean mine out, until a shot of WD-40 would flow freely through the openings (use the tube attached to the spray nozzle). I had to heat one rocker arm with a propane torch to bake out all the offending crud.

Jerry

_________________
There's a difference between ignorance and stupidity.
Ignorance is not knowing any better.
Stupidity is knowing, yet doing it anyway.

Everybody has given me great advise but no success. I took off the head this evening and no oil comes out of the block. I can run a piece of safety wire through the head with no problem and the safety wire goes down into the block with the head off all the way to the bearing. I am going to have to check the bearing, I am almost sure it is incorrectly installed. I have the engine on a test stand so it will be some work but not as much as if it were in a car. Thank you for all the help, I will let you know what I find this weekend. Chris

If he has to re-do the rear bearing, might it be easier to pull the cam, yank out the rear plug, and go at it that way? Just a thought.

Roger

Check your oil pump. I had a dry head and it turned out to be that my oil pump malfunctioned, ruining my engine.

I took the engine apart last night and it was the bearing that was incorrectly installed. I knocked out the bearing and installed it correctly, reassembled the engine, put it back on my stand and tested the engine again. This time I had oil at the head, everything went back together great and now the engine is running fine. Thank you for all the help and suggestions, it was my mistake not noticing the bearing from the machine shop. Thanks, Chris