Well, there's the rub.  The block needed to be hot-tanked so I replaced the cam bearings.  It is the original cam and NOS bearings.

John

Yes, only the stand on each side that has the oil feed. While the 1/16" restriction might well help maintain main bearing pressure, with an extra deep cam groove you had better have good valve seals if the head floods. Might be academic anyway, since my impression is the shallow groove/bearing wear problem is largely a recent manufacturing development. Old OEM cams were likely fine. In fact, with the trouble involved re: proper cam bearing installation, unless you needed to hot-tank the block, few people would have bothered to change unworn bearings in a non-race/driver motor.

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

Ok, you lost me there.  Tap the bottom of the rocker stands?

I've seen threads talking about tapping the top of the overflow tube stand at the end and plugging it.  That would pressurize the whole shaft with an issue being it may flood the head and/or trap air in the shaft.

I've not seen anything about tapping the bottom of the stands.  Are you just talking about the two feed stands and using the 1/16 hole to prevent an oil pressure drop?

John

[quote][b]jrappl (12/5/2011) The oil cam oil groove is not very deep (about .020). What are the side effects as far as oil pressure is concerned to cutting the groove deeper (say to .035) and leaving the top end stock.



.035" might not be enough to flood the valve gear, especially if you point the overflow tube down a pushrod hole. But, since you are going to the trouble anyway, why not cut the groove to .050" and make it unlikely that the new bearing will eventually wear down and block oil flow to the rockers? (Just be sure you don't widen the groove). Then tap the bottom of the rocker stands to 5/16-18 and drill a 1/16" hole in a pair of hex cup set screws. That should restrict flow enough so the head won't flood.




6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

All the above,plus better ventilation on newer engines.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO

The 292 is back from the machine shop and ready to be put back together.

I've cleaned and rebuilt the rocker arm shaft and have decided to leave the overflow tubes stock (after reading alot about it).  I have a new oil pump and of course all the oil passages have been opened and cleaned.

I'm reusing the original cam with NOS bearings.  The old bearings had no visible wear anywhere including around the groove.  The oil cam oil groove is not very deep (about .020).  What are the side effects as far as oil pressure is concerned to cutting the groove deeper (say to .035) and leaving the top end stock.

Whenever I open an older engine (50-80s) there is lots of sludge/oil build up inside but if I look into a newer engine even with high mileage they are much cleaner.  Is this because of better oils, oil changed more often or because of fuel injection instead of carburation - or all of the above?

John

That's how I thought you get the plugs out - just checking to see if there is a trick.

The new shafts and some rocker arms are on the way. Towers and the rest of the rocker arms are cleaned and waiting. The bad rockers had narrow but deep gouges in the center of the wear surface almost centered between the center grrove and the edge. That seemed kind of weird to me - like something hard got caught in there - but how did it get in?

I did make sure I cleaned the oil holes (2 per rocker) and the center groove. They are going to look so much better! Engine has been sitting for 40 years but the top end was not get oil for a while before that...

John

The plugs can be removed. I think you puncture one end and pry it out then push the other out from the inside. They are basic freeze plugs and should be available at a local parts store. If the shafts are gauled make sure you check the inner surface on each rocker arm. No sense putting worn rockers on new shafts. Also run a wire through the oil feeds on the rocker arms. The shafts are available at most Y-Block specialty shops like Dennis Carpenter etc. They also pop up on EBAY fairly often. There have bee some lately on EBAY prices around $50 a pair. I don't know if anyone has tried them yet but the price is cheap enough I would be concerned about the quality. $80 is more like the normal range but who knows where they are made. Chuck

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

While I'm waiting for the machine shop I started to work on the top end.  I pulled apart the rocker arm shafts for cleaning/rebuilding.  My shafts are worn and will need to be replaced.  If I had been able to reuse them how do you get the plugs out of the ends to clean the gunk out?  Are the plugs reusable or do they have to be replaced if removed?  Where do you get them if you need to replace them?  I haven't seen them while looking for all my other parts.

John

Car appears to be 100% original and about 99% complete.  It does need a lot of work...

John