440 oil priming question

[rapidride2]

I have a 75' 440 that has just been rebuilt, It has a hyd. cam and lifters and stock rocker system. i was priming the engine oil pump in a counter clockwise rotation, The pass side started priming in about 20 seconds. My gauge is reading about 80 psi with a 1/2 inch drill. However i cannot get the driver side rockers to oil. i have ran for up to 20-25 minutes and even rotated engine while attempting to prime. Has anyone ever had this problem???? I thought about putting moly grease on pushrod/rockers and starting the engine all while hoping the dr. side will oil once the engine is fired???any answers would be greatly appreciated. p.s. to the best of my knowledge none of the oil galleys have been modified .

[rapidride2]

can anyone help me?

[440Ramcharger]

Before assembly, was the oil galley in the heads checked for blockage? I had this problem on a used set of heads. I ran a metal coat hanger up the galley to clean out the crud. This was done BEFORE bolting the head onto the block. I strongly suggest that the head in question is removed and checked/cleaned. The dry head is a major red flag.

[krazykuda]

I would try starting it. Put some moly lube on them like you said. Pour oil on the rockers. Thick oil like STP, Rislone Motor Honey, or even leftover cam lube would be a good safeguard also. They can go longer with out oil than the bearings. A short dry start shouldn't hurt them. I would leave the valve cover off and pack rags to keep the oil from gushing all over when it. That way you could pour oil on them to prevent damage if the oil does not come.

You might want to take off the rocker arms and stick a coat hanger down the oil hole to make sure that is not plugged. Make sure that the head gasket is not covering the oil hole. The hanger should be able to go down and touch the camshaft (gently of course).

Then start the engine with the valve cover off and watch for oil. If you are not getting any oil then, chances are the cam bearings may not have the oil hole properly aligned with the hole. If you are getting oil to one side and not the other, I would guess that the cam bearing hole is not properly aligned with the oil hole.

The rockers are fed from the camshaft. Since you are getting oil on the other side rockers, that indicates that you are getting oil through the main bearings (crank) and up to the cam. With oil getting to the cam, the lifters should pump up properly after starting. The only two possibilities for not getting oil to the rockers are a misaligned bearing hole or a blocked passage as stated above by 440Ramcharger. As a general rule, the cam bearing should not overlap the hole by 50%.

I hope this helps

e-mail me @ krazykuda@sbcglobal.net if you have any more questions

Oh yeah, the Tigers are shooting for you guys this year (Cardinals).

[rapidride2]

Thank you,, thank you ,, from the World Champ state,, Saint Louis

[dust]

Quick question: small blocks are primed counter clockwise too, right?

[charger_dan]

rapid,

do NOT start this mill until you get oil up to both sides of valvetrain.

as mentioned, you need to be sure your oil passage up through head,
and if necessary, your cam bearing (#4, i believe) is passing oil.

if you haven't already, run the drill like you've done while having
a buddy slowly turn the crank clockwise at least two full revolutions.
if still no oil to top, it's time to start your investigation.

is your rockershaft installed correctly on the problem side?

good luck

[ehostler]

Originally Posted by dust

Quick question: small blocks are primed counter clockwise too, right?

No. They are primed clockwise. You always prime in the direction that the distributor would turn with the engine running.

[DartGT66]

There is three holes in the #4 cam bearing, and passages that go through the cam to let oil to the heads fourth rockershaft pedestal from front. In order to get oil to the upstairs, these passages and holes in the cam must line up. They only line up once per cam revolution. So, do like mentioned above, use the primer and turn the engine slowly over at the same time until you get oil to the other side too. Or just start it up.