No oil pressure to the rocker shafts.

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glhx

glhx

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I’ve got the rocker shafts with the notch on the drivers side……facing the back of the engine.
Got the notch on the passenger side. Facing the front of the engine. Was told it didn’t matter as long as they were opposite. The oil holes look like they line up when i rotated the shaft to check alignment.


the next thing I’ll do is switch them out and trade places so the drivers side is notch facing front

the rocker arms are in the right place. stamped left and right and sitting on the valves correctly.

the engine was just rebuilt and I was using a drill to first time prime it. Turning the engine over about 20 degrees and priming. Then over and over again. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to prime it and no pressure on the top end. I know the cam bearings oil holes are correct so I don’t think it’s that

the gauge shows 80psi.

neither the drivers or passengers side of the rockers are getting oil
 
glhx said:
I’ve got the rocker shafts with the notch on the drivers side……facing the back of the engine.
Got the notch on the passenger side. Facing the front of the engine. Was told it didn’t matter as long as they were opposite. The oil holes look like they line up when i rotated the shaft to check alignment.


the next thing I’ll do is switch them out and trade places so the drivers side is notch facing front

the rocker arms are in the right place. stamped left and right and sitting on the valves correctly.

the engine was just rebuilt and I was using a drill to first time prime it. Turning the engine over about 20 degrees and priming. Then over and over again. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to prime it and no pressure on the top end. I know the cam bearings oil holes are correct so I don’t think it’s that

the gauge shows 80psi.

neither the drivers or passengers side of the rockers are getting oil
Click to expand...
Head gaskets? The oil passage comes up through the deck into the heads.
 
toolmanmike said:
Head gaskets? The oil passage comes up through the deck into the heads.
Click to expand...

‘if I take those shafts off and just have the holes in the cylinder head exposed. With 80 psi and a drill for priming. Would that give me enough pressure to leak out and check that way, without pulling the engine apart.
I don’t think I put the gaskets on wrong. But there’s no oil up there so I didn’t do something right
 
If you pull the shafts you should be able to use a long ty-rap and check the passage through the head and into the block.
Also at 20 degrees at a time you could easily miss the alignment of the galley.
 
get a buddy to run the drill while you slowly turn it over with a breaker bar. that how I do it on a rebuild or anything thats been sitting a Long time.
 
Shaft "notches" are "down and to the left". This is when hanging over fender. So DS is down and at front, pass side is down and at rear. Also double check to what you have for "notches". Some shafts have crescent shaped, some slots etc. And they vary in orientation in regards to oiling holes.
 
glhx said:
I’ve got the rocker shafts with the notch on the drivers side……facing the back of the engine.
Got the notch on the passenger side. Facing the front of the engine. Was told it didn’t matter as long as they were opposite. The oil holes look like they line up when i rotated the shaft to check alignment.


the next thing I’ll do is switch them out and trade places so the drivers side is notch facing front

the rocker arms are in the right place. stamped left and right and sitting on the valves correctly.

the engine was just rebuilt and I was using a drill to first time prime it. Turning the engine over about 20 degrees and priming. Then over and over again. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to prime it and no pressure on the top end. I know the cam bearings oil holes are correct so I don’t think it’s that

the gauge shows 80psi.

neither the drivers or passengers side of the rockers are getting oil
Click to expand...

Pull the rockers and shafts off and prime it.
 
What @4spdragtop said is correct; Down and left is correct.and it is the ONLY correct way.
The shafts only get oil when the cam and the holes in the cam bearings line up, which only happens once per revolution. At cranking speed, it takes a long time to fill those tubes up.
So then, if the holes are Not lined up, you can prime the day away and no oil will come up.
I forget the cam position that are requires, but they are different from left to right. I\ll see if I can find that info.

What @toolmanmike said will prove the headgaskets but you still have to line the cam holes up

here it is
from @Rapid Robert in thread; Priming the rebuilt engine question

turn the crank to 90 degrees (1/4 turn) BTDC #1 compression & preoil the pass head with the hex shaft (some dampeners have partial marks (3 of em) in addition the the full TDC timing slit) or if not cut a strip of paper 5.694" to use as a ruler. then turn the dampener back around CCW to 20 deg ATDC # 6 compression & preoil again for the dr head. this will preoil both heads with minimal turning. then turn the crank back CCW a bit more to your preferred initial (IE 15 BTDC) & install the dist with the rotor under where the #6 plug wire is. It'd be a good time to check rotor phasing. and only vac adv not mechanical changes it (shifts it CCW on a SB) from its static position in relation to the cap terminal.
 
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I finally got it.

I pulled the shafts out and primed. Did not work

Turned it and it’s still didn’t work

so I turned the engine while priming like you guys said.

oil shot up about a foot in the air when it hit one spot.

I switched the shafts around and put them in correctly with notch down and to the left. I was getting oil to 6 rockers. I took a look at it and in switching I got the left and right rockers mixed up. Was thinking that could happen and wouldn’t be a big deal. Easy fix.
Pulled the rocker back off and fixed that. Soaked all 8 on one side

then went to the other side and turned the engine again. Oil shot up about a foot. so I’m getting good flow now and it’s primed.

The takeaway from this. The cam has to be in one exact position to shoot oil up. Even a tiny bit off and it would not flow. Next time I would prime without the shafts on and when I fount the spot. I would put the shafts on after. Then switch sides. I would also go slower with the drill so it wouldn’t shoot up so far.
When doing it by yourself and having to go slow. I found it really hard to get the exact spot. I had to prime while turning……then stop….and then prime again while turning. If I did this a lot I could probably get it with the shafts on.

priming the engine with a drill. It took less than 5 seconds to prime the shafts after the hole was found.

Thank you gentlemen for your help on this.
 
Correct shaft orientation is passenger's side notch to the rear and down, driver's side notch to the front and down. Some don't have notches so just point the oiling holes down and toward the valve springs (outside of the engine).
 
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One more thing to take away is whomever told you that the notches "don't matter" needs to be questioned on their advice. No offense to them but I doubt they would pay for repairs to your engine when their advice could cost u an engine. Again no offense intended.
Glad ya got it! Got pics of notches?
 
glhx said:
I finally got it.

I pulled the shafts out and primed. Did not work

Turned it and it’s still didn’t work

so I turned the engine while priming like you guys said.

oil shot up about a foot in the air when it hit one spot.

I switched the shafts around and put them in correctly with notch down and to the left. I was getting oil to 6 rockers. I took a look at it and in switching I got the left and right rockers mixed up. Was thinking that could happen and wouldn’t be a big deal. Easy fix.
Pulled the rocker back off and fixed that. Soaked all 8 on one side

then went to the other side and turned the engine again. Oil shot up about a foot. so I’m getting good flow now and it’s primed.

The takeaway from this. The cam has to be in one exact position to shoot oil up. Even a tiny bit off and it would not flow. Next time I would prime without the shafts on and when I fount the spot. I would put the shafts on after. Then switch sides. I would also go slower with the drill so it wouldn’t shoot up so far.
When doing it by yourself and having to go slow. I found it really hard to get the exact spot. I had to prime while turning……then stop….and then prime again while turning. If I did this a lot I could probably get it with the shafts on.

priming the engine with a drill. It took less than 5 seconds to prime the shafts after the hole was found.

Thank you gentlemen for your help on this.
Click to expand...
Good for you for getting this resolved! I bought a 71 440 HP engine from a guy when I was stationed in the Philippines in the early 80's and tore it down to rebuild. When I pulled the valve covers I saw the rockers were bone dry. The rocker shafts were unbelievably scored. Surprised nothing broke! You worked through the problem while some just slap it back together. Well done!
 
Ricks70Duster340 said:
Good for you for getting this resolved! I bought a 71 440 HP engine from a guy when I was stationed in the Philippines in the early 80's and tore it down to rebuild. When I pulled the valve covers I saw the rockers were bone dry. The rocker shafts were unbelievably scored. Surprised nothing broke! You worked through the problem while some just slap it back together. Well done!
Click to expand...
Oils is metered through the cam bearing and camshaft, if the bearing is not properly aligned in the block then you have a serious problem but since you saw that when the engine was turned, it shot oil with the shafts removed you had no problem. Things like this are what a guy learns from experience and from others. Also reading a shop manual helps a bunch. Here's a little trick to pass on about non MOPAR, but then these days there aren't many old Ford FE's running around. Pull those shafts and install a threaded section of a bolt that fits in the holes to raise the oil pressure to the lower end of the engine and cut back on the oil flooding the top of the heads and valve guides, it will really slow down the oil burning in these engines after they have a lot of years on them. I used to do this to get engines to pass a smog test in Calif.. Never had any problems with them after this either. I had an old MOPAR racing manual that recommended installing a restrictor orifice in the block or heads for B's and LA's. Tap the hole and install a drilled plug with a .040 hole in it to restrict the oil flow even more. Rockers don't need pressure, they just need a little to lube the parts and it doesn't take that much oil to get this job done. The faster the engine spins the shorter the time between oil pulses and the rockers don't need anymore than what can stay in the little pockets that hold it while it runs over the parts.
 
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