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Final Rocker Shaft Question

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glemon

glemon

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Some of you may have noticed sporadic rocker shaft assembly questions from me over the last couple of months, I took the old shaft off over the weekend and it looked like some wear but not too bad so I went cheap and just got a new shaft instead of a entire rocker rebuild,

Putting it back together was fairly straightforward as I just slid parts off the old shaft back on in the same order onto the new, made sure the plugs were in, bolted her back in adjusted the valves (they were all tight, I take that as a good sign that the rockers were a little loose on the old shaft). I also blew through the oil intake passage on the bottom of the pedestal with the assembly all put together before I put it on to make sure the oil flow path was clear.

Anyway I started the motor up and ran it for a minute or two (roughly) I did not see any oil coming out the little holes on top of the rockers, I know a lot of oil means things are worn, but it would have made me feel better to see a little seepage through the drain hole in the top of the rocker arms. Fear of doing damage and the fact that the garage is over the bedroom and the wife in bed kept me from testing further this evening.

Someone tell me that shaft takes a bit to fill with oil just so I can have pleasant dreams tonight....

Also oil pressure was good from the guage when I ran it. I think there was less valve clatter too, which was one of the goals of the replacement, but probably hard to tell because I haven't fit the valve cover yet.
 
It can take a bit for the shaft to fill; but I wouldn't just assume that all is well. I make it a habit to always run the engine until oil comes out the holes, just because I have seen the passage through the block and head get blocked with crud/sludge.
 
Well there was definitely oil flowing to the old assembly before I took it off, so it shouldn't be blocked, but I will keep the valve cover off and fire it up tommorrow and we will see what happens, I pre-lubed it so it should be ok at idle for a bit.

Interesting wear pattern on the rocker shaft, little to no wear except on the outermost rockers where there was quite a ridge on the bottom of the shaft, but it was a 90,000 mile motor before the rebuild and I went with a high capacity oil pump so hopefully more oil will get to the ends of the shaft this go round.

Thanks for the input
 
glemon said:
Interesting wear pattern on the rocker shaft, little to no wear except on the outermost rockers where there was quite a ridge on the bottom of the shaft,
Click to expand...

That would tell me they get feed last.
 
Oil is flowing through the rocker, all good, interesting to watch it creep "up" the shaft towards the front of the engine, it sort of crept from one rocker to the next, possibly the cold thick oil from my unheated garage made a difference.

Thanks for the moral support and advice.
 
Make sure to use a locking compound on the rear screw that hold the shaft in place. I had one come out & fall in to the oil pan. It creates a big oil leak & does not oil the front rockers.
 
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