Hot Rods Ford 223/Y-block rocker shaft oil tube

I read once that Y-block and 223's shared their rocker assemblies general design.

I had a local shop rebuild my 223 ten years and 25k miles ago and the oil feed tube(rear) was clogged solid when I removed it back then. Their fix was they used the original ends of the original line and welded or soldered a custom fab'd larger diameter tubing for the rest of the line.

Well I found a real gem tonight: one of the elbows in the feed line--I'm assuming because of poor care in ensuring proper bend angles, and the larger tube diameter--was eaten through by a rocker arm(adjuster nut to be specific)with a pea-size hole.

Thankfully when I pushed the rockers over against their springs, the shaft showed absolutely ZERO wear, no scouring, scuffing, nothing.

Whew!


1) Are these tubes available new? The original has some weird flares to it and I know I can't replicate that. I don't even have enough skills or proper things to seal the hole shut--my best guess is MIG welding it, but that will most likely leave a giant glob of metal, and still make contact with the rocker.

2) Is the tiny O-ring at the bottom of the feed tube available? Is it just a standard o-ring I can get anywhere?

3)Off Topic--I read a comment once that said the 223 was infamous for it's sludge buildup, and with religious oil changes every 3k miles with conventional Valvoline, I found a fair bit of sludge on the floor of the inside surface of the valve spring area. Is this just something I must live with? I'm kinda afraid to go synthetic in fear of new oil leaks.


Thanks anyone for help.

 

Cut another small piece of tubing to lay in the hole forming a cup shape to clear the rocker arm adjuster...and then have the repair piece TIG welded in place(also known a "heliarced")...not MIG weld, MIG is too messy and imprecise.
A good old timer at brazing could also brass braze an inverted repair piece into that hole.

I got no idea on the o-ring, not a Y-block guy.

Addition of a PCV valve to your crankcase/valvecover/valley pan somehow will clear up a lot of the sludge problem, it draws those combustion blow-by products, acids, and water that forms the sludge out of the crankcase into the intake to be burned up.