VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 216 Oil Pan Check Gauges

Does anyone have dimensional drawings of the oil nozzle depth gauge, J-969-3, the oil trough depth gauge J-969-2, and the oil pan target gauge J-969-1, for the 216 engine, so that a person could fabricate homemade versions? Are these gauges available anywhere?

Mark Yeamans
VCCA #35724

Chevs of the 40s & I believe The Filling Station have them for rent with a sizable deposit. Maybe rent a set & use them as a pattern???

I had a few J-969-3 plasma cut from an original pattern. I think I have one left. I have the other tools as well. I can email pics.

The target guage would be a bugger to duplicate. Suggest rental instead of building one.

I also have a set of guages, two of them would be easy to make but I agree that the target guage would be difficult to make but it could be done. Rent one if you can

One just sold on ebay for about $190

Hello to all,

It's been a while since I posted but I have been reading Chat as time permits. As always, lots of good information and some fun.

Hi Mark,

I was in the same situation as you and trying to figure out how to confirm that the oil nozzles were aimed correctly. Between information in this forum and the Chevy shop manual and service bulletins I have them set without the pan target gauge.

Getting 2 of the 3 gauges is easy. There are dimensions in an earlier post to make the dipper and tray depth checking gauge. It is also easy enough for someone to trace the outline of the nozzle depth gauge on a light pice of card stock. Canadian Tim sent me a tracing of his (Many thanks Tim!). I carefully cut right on the line with an Exacto knife.

So the only part left is the direction of the nozzles. The key point is that the purpose of the nozzles is to direct a stream of oil to the dippers on the rod bearings. When the engine is runnning a higher speed and the car is traveling there will be very little if any oil in the trays.

The first step is to make sure each nozzle is spraying along the centerline of each tray. I simple measured and determined the centerline of each tray. Then I set a small square on the flange of the oil pan and drew a vertical line along the inside right surface of the pan that lined up with the centerline of each tray. I used a fine point Sharpie. I connected a water line to the oil tube distributor and watched where each stream hit. I only had to slightly bend a couple to make them hit that line. You can also see if they are all hitting at a similar height along that side of the pan. Mine were.

Now for the part to adjust the aim up or down. I simply took a piece of coat hanger wire and very carefully formed it to follow the path of the centerline of the dipper as the crank rotates. I used a pair of small vise grips to clamp one end of the wire to the left flange on the block. I bent the wire down at 90 degrees right at the inside edge of the block. Just rotate the crank a few degrees at a time and start bending the wire to match the path of the opening of the dipper.

Then take this wire form and sit it on the left flange of the pan along the centerline of each tray. The right angle bend puts it in the right position with respect to the crank centerline. Turn on the water and see if the stream hits the wire. I was pleased that the stream always hit the wire in at least one location reagardless of the pressure and flow.

It's not as difficult as it sounds. Take your time forming the wire and you will be surprised how well it works.

Hi Rusty,

I would like to invite you to clean up your information, add some pictures, and submit it for publication in the G&D.

If you are concerned about the information submitted you can send your draft to one of the three members on the Technical Article team for assistance and suggestions.

If you are interested in doing this, you can contact me by PM or email.

The G&D needs articles like this.

Rusty,

Thanks for the detailed instructions. I'm going to be undertaking another 216 rebuild this winter, and I'll give it a try.

Mark

Hi Ray,

Thanks for the suggestion and offer to help. Sounds like we should work on this.

I did a copy and paste of my posting into a Word document to give me a starting point. I will take some pictures this weekend and we'll see where we can go with this. 2 pictures tell the whole story. One is the formed wire clamped to the block and the other is the formed wire sitting in the oil pan.

Rusty

Okay I never saw the results of this discussion or the previous post with dimensions for some of these gauges.

Does anyone have the diminsions applicable for a 1950 216 truck engine? Thanks