VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 Oiling system

Can any of you wonderful people explain to me in detail the engine oiling system on a 30, and what to look for as far as problems that I need to address? I just don't understand all of it. Thank you in advance.

If you have the repair manual it has a section on it.

The oil pump pumps oil under low pressure up to pockets above the front and rear main bearings, From there it gravity feeds the main bearing except for the center main whch recieves positive full pressure. The over flow from the front and rear main fills the connecting rod oil troughs for #1 and #6 Cyl
The other four connecting rod troughs are filled with low presure oiling tubes. The rocker arms are also lubricaed by a low ppressure oil line.
Dippers (scoops) on the bottom of the connecting rods picks up oil for the rod bearings (from the troughs)

Thank you Chev Nut

Have any of you tried to improve on the oiling system? If so, could you please explain how you did it and how well it worked. Is there any way to incorporate a seal on the back of the crankshaft. I am trying to make this thing last forever due to the fact that there will be no one after me that will or would want to understand the inner workings of this engine because it doesn't have any electronics or computers. This will be a lost art.

The best improvement that you can make in my opinion is to thoroughly clean all the old sludge out of the engine and then use 10-30 detergent oil.

Make sure you check the oil pockets/reservoirs above the front and back main bearings. I've seen them nearly completely full of gritty sludge, and you don't want that stuff loosening up and flowing into the little standpipe that feeds the bearings.
Ole

had to clean mine out !! full of CRUD !!

also some people upgrade the oil pump to get more oil flowing, but if the system is clean and free and the pump is working correctly there should be no issues.

best oil pump if you want to upgrade a 1930 i would go with these from C&P Automotive, sold directly or from The Filling Station, Gary Wallace, etc...:

Thank all of you for the advise

Hi Gents,
Could cleaning the oil pockets/reservoirs above first and last bearing as well as upgrading the oil pump, as suggested above be done with the engine in position?

Yes it can be done but requires some dexterity and good supply of solvent as the top of the wells are near bottom of piston bores. Having small paint brush and rags is a must.

Thanks Chip.
Happy Christmas.

Not a fun job. Solvent in your armpits sort of job. 29's have a pocket above the center main as well, so I had 3 to do. Make sure you don't have one there as well (I don't remember if the center main was pressurized in 1930 or 31).
Also, after you have the pan back on and oil in it, be sure to remove the distributor and spin the oil pump long enough to fill those pockets and the dipper troughs with oil. Get someone to watch the oil pressure gauge while you do it to confirm oil circulation and that you are turning the pump the right direction.
I know it probably doesn't take long to fill everything after starting anyway, but you will probably get some solvent in the standpipes feeding the bearings leading to kind of a dry squeaky start up.
Anyway, good luck!
Ole

yeah it is a fun diry nasty job with engine in car, been there done that !!

scooped out what i could with my fingers, wearing gloves of course. then flushed with a can of brake clean and a custom bent straw :) had to do all three in the 1929 crap everywhere !! then put it all back together and ran it for a bit, then did it again as there was a good bit of loose debris after the 1 cleaning !!

now that the enging is at shop, we are tearing it down and then cleaning it GOOD !!!

few pictures of the standpipes, and such