I know there are a lot of nailhead nuts on here and have a nailhead oiling question. This is my first nailhead and I want to get it right. I have a 63 401 that I’m going to rebuild. My question is how the oil gets up to the rockers if the push rods are not hollow and the lifters are hydraulic or are they? Are there any secrets or upgrade secrets in making sure the rockers are being oiled ok?
I see the oil holes in the rocker shaft but how does it get to the rocker/pushrod ends and where does the oil come from that goes into the rocker arm shafts?
Thanks! Candy-Man. That makes sense. I guess it is important to clean everything out good. Wonder if the inside block paint (glyptol) would be a good idea here. Especially the head valleys.
Be careful of the casting at the bottom of the bolt that the oil flows by. Mine had a crack and the radiator kept filling with oil. The oil pressure being greater than the 13psi in the radiator kept the oil flowing into the radiator with no water flowing back into the oil supply. I first thought that I had developed some corrosion where the oil feeder goes through the water jackets and I relined them with machined stainless tubeing. I had a disgusting load of goop in the radiator for way too long before I worked out the problem. Still love the nailhead!
i have a 425 nailhead, usually if you have oil pressure itll get to the top. i usually only worry if i find a problem.makes me sleep better . good luck
MJ40. That schematic is not of a nailhead . On the nails, the oil pump is at the back. If you are tearing it down and concerned about proper reassembly to oil the rockers, keep this in mind: The oil flows from the rear of the engine to the front in a center gallery that oils the mains before arriving at the front of the engine. There are short passages you can see in the front cam journal perpendicular to the crank that direct the oil up to the two galleries that send oil back down the block towards the rear of the motor. These galleries send pressurized oil to the lifters as well as the rockers. Common things to look out for are: be sure to replace the passenger side oil gallery plug at the rear of the engine.(If it was removed by the machinist) It is easy to miss. Be sure to orient the 3 holes in the #1 cam bearing to line up with the passages in the block. Be careful that you do not drive the front 3 oil plugs into the block too deep. This may block oil to the rockers. All the manuals say the oil flows up and around an "oversize hole in the rocker shaft pedestal. This is not totally correct. All the pedestals have the same sized hole. The oil flows around a reduced shank bolt that bolts the rocker pedestals to the head. If you use a regular bolt with a full sized shank, you may block the flow to the rockers. Read before you tear it down. (example)There is a snap ring behind the last cam bearing that retains the cam. If you try to use the old trick of slamming the cam plug out the rear of the block without removing the snap ring, you can ruin the block. The vibration damper must be torqued to 225 ft lbs- lots of other things that are cheap to read about, but can get very expensive if ignored.
Just as a side note, double check the lifter bores for flaws, I had a 63 rivi that would have one lifter bleeding down on a semi regular basis. Turned out to be a crack in the valley side of the block casting. It would open up when she reached operating temp allowing the lifter to pump down thru the bleed hole when they lined up. Indy
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