I am new to this forum.  I bought a 2 owner 1956 F100 truck with a 272 and 70k miles on the clock. Everything works fine exept that the lubrication for the rockarms on the passenger side is poor. Been told that this is very common on early y-blocks, caused by a design flaw, long oilchannel and old bearings. At time rumour says that external lubrication kits were sold to cure this

Engine runs very well otherwise and with so few miles on it I am hesitating to tear the motor out and rip it apart (wonderfully original truck). I got a tip to remove the passenger side head and drill a hole in the camshaft bearing to improve the oil flow.

This sounds a bit brutal but might work. Does anybody out there have any experience in this matter.

Thankful for any advice.

Mick

I wouldn't do any drilling on an assembled engine. Especially not deep down in the oil passage hole where it will be nearly impossible to remove the chips.

First remove the rocker shaft and spark plugs, turn the engine over and see if oil makes it to the head. If it does, then the blockage is in your shaft.

If there is still no oil, then you have to dig deeper. Some have had luck using a grease fitting and pressure to clear the passage. I can't find the link, but I think they made a plate which bolts in place of the rocker stand and has a grease fitting on it.

If that doesn't work, you can either install the external oilers, or get a gasket set, tear the engine down, and fix it. With today's oils, once you fix it, you should not have to worry about it again.


Lawrenceville, GA

Welcome to the site Mick.

 

As long as there is evidence of oil to the rockers on that bank, I’ll suggest leaving it alone.  Only if the oil flow stops or becomes insufficient to provide oil to all the rockers should you need to actually do something about it.  Rather than look at the oil coming from the rockers, look at the oil flow from the overflow tube while the engine is running.  Increasing the rpms of the engine while watching the oil flow will also give a better indication of the oil flow as it should increase with the increase in rpms.  If there is a steady flow of oil from the overflow tube but not the rockers, then a dissassembly of the rocker arm assemblies is in order and doing a thorough cleaning of the shafts and rockers.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

If you are getting oil to head but is just low you could pinch the overflow tube to reduce the flow, causing more oil to the rockers. If the overflow tube has poor oil flow best bet is to remove head and clean. The oil passage from the block to the heads is offset at the head gasket and can plug up.

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.

This continuation of rocker oiling talk has reminded me of Ted's recent comment a few months back re: his conversion to pressurizing the shafts, which also suddenly made me think again about the 12/63 Ford service letter re: restrictor installation to balance the oil flow variation due to bearing design changes. It never occurred to me before, but if the rockers are drip fed, and there is adequate surplus oil pressure built in to the system, why would Ford worry about one head flowing more oil than another since I think current assembly line changes had by then directed the overflow tubes down the pushrod holes?

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

Hi guys, thanks for  your welcome and your input.

My friends are giving me a hard time, urging to swap motor for some GM hardware, but I like the old y-block. Especially when you start, it seems to fire on all eight at the same time, I just love that.

Back to the problems:

No oil comes out of the oil overflow tube. I removed and cleaned the shaft and rockers, which are pretty worn ( hard to set valves properly).  Driver side works perfectly. I did try the trick with the grease fitting but it did not help, maybe I could not pressurize properly, tried with pressing in grease. Any ideas?

Found very nice set shafts with rockers on ebay and got a me a gasket kit. Next step will probably be to lift the head on passenger side and have a look, maybe the offset in the head is still clogging the oil channel. (It works on the drivers side?). I will have a last look at camshaft bearing, before I lift the motor.

Thanks Mick 

GM people do like to waste time and do things the hard way. Don't let them take you off your path. Your mind will be at ease when you fix the Y and your wallet will be heavier - an off brand engine swap is not easy and it's not cheap if you don't do it yourself.


Lawrenceville, GA

As a general rule, when oiling to the rocker arms becomes compromised due to cam bearing wear with a grooved camshaft, oil flow to the passenger side stops first.  Overall low oil pressure on the engine will also have rocker arm oiling on the passenger side stop before that on the drivers side.  Have you checked the oil pressure on the engine with a known good gauge?

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Welcome to the site, Don't let those scrub lovin bowtie bumpkins talk you out of that Y block. Do you know of any old scrub that hasn't had the engine changed out several times with a later model 350? I think not. The older y's are holding up well and I think the percentage of them still running their original engines is one of the highest out there. Thats why you could purchase that truck with the original engine. Once sorted you will love it, and you will amaze them with the sound and power.

55 Vicky & customline

58 Rack Dump, 55 F350 yard truck, 57 F100

59 & 61 P 400's, 58 F100 custom cab, 69 F100, 79 F150, 82 F600 ramp truck, 90 mustang conv 7 up, 94 Mustang, Should I continue?

OK. I think I get it now. The original cross-drilled feed/drip system must still have produced elevated pressure inside the rocker shaft at higher RPMs (?). More flow to one side would equal more pressure, so even with the drains directed down the pushrod holes, the higher pressure would likely force excess oil out the rocker drip holes with resultant head flooding?


6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA