Im back with more questions, rt rockers wete not getting oil so tried the grease gun trick pumped about 3 oz( mini grease tube) of grease into the hole tried turning oil pump and still nothing left side flos through no problem. Do i need more grease or is this a case of tear it down and do it the hard way? If so should i remove both heads and check the oil passages or just the one.
While im in there is there anything else i should look at or replace? All ideas are welcome .

Are you turning the engine as you try to pump oil? Some of the cam bearings have a feed hole in them that only sends oil to the passenger side when the holes line up. You can use the starter to bump the engine or a socket on the damper bolt. 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

Have not tried that yet . Is there a specific point in which it lines up or just try a few random spots?

Its random.Some of the early Y-blocks have the cam crossdrilled for oil feed to the head.The later(after late 55) have a groove in the cam for oil to flow around to the passage to the head.Its not unusual to have oil only to one side in the high mileage motors.The rotation of the cam can cause the oil hole in the bearing to distort cutting off oil flow.At that point there is only one way to fix it properly unless you want to ad one of the old aftermarket kits that feeds oil from the gallery on the side of the block externally to the rocker shafts.Not the best fix but it may be the way to go if you dont want to tear the motor apart right now.If I see one on Ebay I will post the item # so you can see what I am describing.

  

Thanks moonshadow & oldcarmark for the info , i rotated crank in 4-5 different spots but still no luck. today i will pull the head and hopefully find a blockage and alls good. If not i assume the next step is replace the cam bearings or do the aftermarket tubing fix. Are thre any other options before i do a rebuild?

Is the starter installed? If so try turning the motor with the starter. Take the plugs out first so it rotates freely. It might take a while to get oil to the right head but this isn't abnormal. The oil only travels when the feed hole and the cam bearing line up so it is possible that even with the rotations you never got it on the holes. It wasn't unheard of, back in the day, to start rebuilt Y's with only pressure showing to the drivers side. Until they grooved the center cam bearing they were all that way. The mechanics just watched the engine at idle until oil showed up on the passenger side. 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

I seem to remember seeing a service bulletin from Ford about this problem with certain camshaft and bearing combinations. Their fix was to install a restrictor in the feed hole to the side getting all the oil. You could check this by temporarily blocking the feed on the side that is oiling, say with a piece of gasket paper under the rocker stand and then see if oil goes to the other side. If that fixes it, let me know and I'll chase down the bulletin and see what size orifice was used. Getting 3 oz grease into the oil passage indicates that the passage is not blocked.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

If it were me i would put the engine back together and try and make it run. You don't need oil at the rockers for the engine to run. I don't think you had the distributor installed correctly and or the firing order right (or left) the last time you tried to start your engine. Also i have not heard you say anything about valve lash (or sticking valves), and what about compression? Oil pressure?

Rebuild = $2000 to $3000+ depending on how much work you do yourself.

Greg

When I overhauled my 292 I did a few oil mods. Before installing the cam, I blew through the deck holes and felt the output in the center cam bearing. One side had more restriction, so I relieved the bearing oil hole slightly. I turned the cam and deepened the center oil groove so it would take forever to wear into the bearing. Then I plugged both rocker shaft overflow tube holes. Rocker arm pressure is now over 40 psi and each of the two tiny rocker arm holes now flows oil, even at idle. Dirt (even the finest little bit) will not clog the holes because healthy oil pressure moves it 'on its way'. That 292 runs great in my '59 Galaxie.

After the Y-block overhaul I did a 390 FE. FEs split the oil feed for the rocker arms between #2 cam bearing for the LH head, and #4 cam bearing feeds the RH head.


Ford did something else that I thought was genious: They grooved the cam bearing saddle (underneath the bearing insert). That way it's impossible for the cam to cut off oil flow to the heads. Here's a pic showing the oil inlet and feed hole for the rocker shaft. The groove is plenty wide:

Ford did this on both #2 & #4 cam bearings. You can do the same with your Y-block's center cam bearing if you plug the rocker shafts. So regardless of cam position, oil still flows to the rocker shafts and the cam center bearing.


This FE hauls @$$: Sealed Power Hypereutectic alloy pistons, Hastings moly rings, Comp Cams roller cam and lifters, roller timing chain set, Edelbrock Performer RPM aluminum heads and intake manifold, C6 with E4OD first and second gears (which gives 10% lower 1st and 5% lower 2nd stump-pulling gears). - Dave


Hey Chuck, good seeing you again.

Royal Oak, Michigan (Four miles north of Detroit, and 12 miles NORTH of Windsor, Canada).  That's right, we're north of Canada.

Ford 292 Y-Block major overhaul by simplyconnected

I can't find my photo right now, but Durabond is making a set of cam bearings for the Y that have both an internal and EXTERNAL groove for oiling on that bearing. The 360 degree oiling inside and out is where it's at. I think Verne Schumann carries these bearings. I had a set installed in my 312 build. Essentially, it carries the same idea as cutting a groove in the block to carry oil no matter if the bearing wears or spins...

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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