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I am trying to get oil to the rockers. I have a 392, built by Jr. Thompson a few years ago. Engine was ran before, but only for break-in. I have the oil pump priming rod installed in a 1/2" drill motor. When I spin the oil pump, I get instant oil pressure on the gauge, but there isn't any oil coming out of the rockers. I have rotated the engine a few times by hand, no difference. How long should the drill motor have to turn the pump before I see oil at the rockers> Thanks for any answers.

Tony

Got it.

How ?

Was it something you did, or something you didn't ?

Mike

speedicusmaximus wrote:How ?

Was it something you did, or something you didn't ?

Mike

Q was answered on another Forum! All in the technique!

speedicusmaximus wrote:How ?

Was it something you did, or something you didn't ?

Mike

Mike,

Being completely new to these engines, I was very curious too, so I sent TDW a PM. (I hope you don't mind Tony if I share your reply with the group.) I feel it's one of those "Doh!" time savers.

Here is Tony's reply to me:

"David...The camshaft has 2 journals that provide oil to the top end. The holes in the cam have to line up with the oil feed holes to the top. I rotated the engine while my wife ran the drill for me until the holes lined up. Once there, the oil flowed to the rockers."

I'm definitely putting that one down in my Hemi notebook.

David

As I slowly rotated the engine by hand, my wife was running the drill motor and watching the oil pressure gauge. It was steady at around 80 lbs. When I hit the spot that the oil started going to the rockers, the pressure dropped to about 65 lbs. I then had oil on the drivers side. After the entire rocker assembly was dripping oil, I rotated the enegine some more. Same thing happened on the gauge when the oiling holes lined up for the passenger side. Thanks to all who responded to the post. There are a couple of guys on the HAMB that made suggestions too.

Tony

[/quote]"The camshaft has 2 journals
that provide oil to the top end."[/quote]
------------------
Just curious....what would happen if
someone added a circular groove to
the camshaft to connect the two oiling
holes and allow the the rockers to have
'full-time' oiling, regardless of the
position of the camshaft??? Would it
cause too much oil to flow to the top
end and overpower the drainback holes
in the heads and/or cause other oiling
problems???

mart
=========================

mart wrote:

"The camshaft has 2 journals
that provide oil to the top end."[/quote]
------------------
Just curious....what would happen if
someone added a circular groove to
the camshaft to connect the two oiling
holes and allow the the rockers to have
'full-time' oiling, regardless of the
position of the camshaft??? Would it
cause too much oil to flow to the top
end and overpower the drainback holes
in the heads and/or cause other oiling
problems???

mart
=========================[/quote]

I don't claim to know, but I think you answered your own question Mart. I too would be willing to bet the system is built that way to restrict oil flow. To me it would seem safer then using a tiny orifice to restrict flow. The orifice could get plugged pretty easy I bet, compared to a larger oil passage that is effectively turning on and off oil flow with the turning of the camshaft.

Reminds me of the guys that wanted to do that (grooving) to the crank journals and even to the bearing shells. More oil? Yes, less pressure for the rest of the engine? Yes. I am sure Chrysler engineers knew exactly what they were doing, and 65 pounds pressure is outstanding for most any engine. My old hemi has gunk on the rockers, and they get oil, and they are still tight as a tick on the shafts. I have seen these old dogs with 200,000 miles with almost immeasurable wear. Matter of fact, I drove a couple to over 200,000 miles. They had over 150,000 when I bought the cars and used very little oil, outside of the usual leaks.