I just my 292 back together new rod and mains new piston a total redo. Had the entire top end together. Put oil in and tried priming it up. I am getting about 40psi which is good and I can see the oil coming out of the rockers on the left side however on the right side nothing. So I pulled the rocker assembly off to verify that the hole was in the right spot. It was. So I pulled the head off to verify that the head gasket was on right. I was sure it was since the square tab was in front. Well the gasket was correct. So I spun the oil pump with the head off and still nothing out of that hole. This block has been taken to a machine shop and baked to clean it. Everything came back clean.
Does it just take longer to get oil to the right side since the oil pump is on the left side. I am guess it has nothing to do with the bearing since I am getting good oil flow out the left side rocker arms. Any suggestion or advice. This is my first y block rebuild and now I am frustrated.

Do you have a cross-drilled camshaft? if so, you will never get the oil to the other side unless YOU TURN THE CAMSHAFT so that the oil holes line up. Cross-drilled cams were standard fare in the early Y blocks in 54/55 and the late Y blocks in the 60's.

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

Originally I did, but replaced it with a groved cam, however I have the cam bearing for a cross drilled cam installed. I was told they would work ,by guys on this site. Was I told correctly? I made sure that they were lined up in the block as well.

Sounds to me like the cam bearing was installed incorrectly. The bearing is positioned so it is covering the hole to the right side. Little late for you now but I always check the center cam bearing after installation by dropping a welding rod in the hole in the block deck to insure it is correct and clear before installing the cam.

BOB

Is there any way to check to know if it's installed correctly without pulling the cam? Also if it was installed wrong how is it getting oil to the left side?

It will take some time to get to the other side at idle, Sure Ive waited minutes before it flowed..  ;  (



"Came too close to dying to stop living now!"

I have spun it a while I am just spinning it with a drill

Are you spinning it counter clockwise?..


Paul

Yeah I am spinning it the right way like I said earlier in the post I am getting 40psi but it is only coming out the left side.

When there is a 'soft' center cam bearing problem, the right bank does starve for oil first.  Soft babbit cam bearings typically go at least 200 miles before pinching off the oil supply to the right bank first.  If the right bank did not oil from the git go, then the other possibility is that the cam bearing was not clocked correctly in the center location meaning only two of the holes in the cam bearing are aligned with the holes in the block.

In your case where you get no oil from the deck with the head off, I suspect the cam bearing is clocked wrong.  There’s still a chance that the hole in the block itself was not cleaned adequately which can be verified by simply taking a drill bit or long rod pushed into the oil hole and seeing if ‘crud’comes back out.  If this is the case, then the possibility is there that this stoppage can be cleared out without completely disassembling the engine.

For those of you that are in the process of doing a Y rebuild, there are some different modifications that help to insure adequate oil flow to both banks.  Any of the following will work.

1. Machine the cam journal groove deeper.  This mod does require that all three holes in the cam bearing still align with the holes in the block.
2. Use an outer grooved cam bearing set.  Schumann sells these.
3. Machine the center cam hole in the block so that all three holes are interconnected.  The stock cam bearing simply presses in place over this modifation.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)