VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 28 oil lines

I am looking for what size copper tube I should use for my oil lines. I am going to use 5/16” for my fuel lines. Can I use the same size for the oil? Thanks.
Jim

If memory serves me correctly, originally the oil line out of the oil distributor to the oil filter was 1/4" and the line from the oil filter back to the engine was 5/16". As long as you can route the 5/16" line and have any necessary fittings to connect everything up, you should be fine with that for both if you wanted. The only other caution is that originally there was an orifice (I want to say a #59 drill) ahead of the oil filter to restrict the amount of oil that went through the bypass filter (vs. into the oiling troughs). Mine was long gone, I ended up putting a needle valve ahead of the oil filter instead, not sure it was necessary but figured better safe than sorry.

-Tyler

Tyler, thanks for your response. The 1/4” makes since because the fittings coming out of the distributor are smaller than the ones going back into the block. This information is very helpful.
I don’t think I totally understand the information you gave me about the orifice. Is there any chance you could post a picture here of what you ended up doing?
Thanks again.
Jim

Hi Jim,

As you can see in the photo, there's a needle valve on the inlet side of the oil filter. I did this so I could adjust the flow through the oil filter like the original restriction orifice (turns out that was a #53 drill size or 0.059" http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/chevyresto/2810.htm). I ended up leaving it completely open and seems to work fine. I think some owners have removed the orifice/restriction altogether and have not had issues, hopefully some of them can comment on their experience.

Wow! Thanks so much for taking the time to put this together. It’s all very helpful.

I would recommend the use of copper-nickel tubing. It doesn't work-harden and break like regular copper.

I agree with coachman28 about using the copper-nickel tubing. I've heard stories about stress cracks developing and oil being lost which put the engine at risk.

Regarding the restrictive orifice in the oil filter line, I have been running a modified oil filter setup for over 20 years with no restriction in the line and no issues. I originally put this setup together so I could buy a cartridge filter instead of paying big bucks for the original filter, which has to be bought anew when it gets clogged up.

Here's a link to where I describe that setup when I rebuilt Lurch's '28 engine in 2017: https://vccachat.org/ubbthreads.php/topics/400847/re-resurrecting-a-28-4-banger.html#Post400847

Cheers, Dean