VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 33 Master rocker arm oil problem

Hi,
I'm hoping for some advice/info on my 33 Master with a 206 cu. in engine.
I just had the head repaired and a valve job and now found an issue.
The rocker arm is 2 pieces with the oiler feeding in the center to both ends. The front end (cyl 1-3) is nearly dry.
The back end ( cyl 4-6) has plenty of oil flow. I have disassembled and cleaned, no obvious crud, reassembled, and still have the problem. I also do not see any excess oil from anywhere it is not supposed to be. Oil pressure is 15 psi at idle and 22 psi at 2000 rpm.
Thanks in advance for any help you may offer.

Doug

Is the little round disc between the shaft and oil supply in place on the back side of the cnter connector.
It limits the oil flow to the rear shaft.....ifficult to describe. belongs to the rear of the center overflow connector.

This may be a stupid question...
and I hope you don't find it insulting...

Are you sure you don't have the front shaft end-for-ended?
There is an end plug inside of the shaft.
It's been a long time since I had my '29 apart, but it seems to me the shaft is reversible, but the plug will be in the wrong end and block the oil flow if end-for-ended.

That seems like a lot of oil pressure for a 207 Chevy engine. Mine usually run a little under 15 at cruising speed and 6 or 7 at idle.

Mike

I agree but think he has never brought the oil Temp. up and the oil is cold.

Thanks to all above for your input.
Just to clarify, the disc with the hole is facing the rear of engine and the front shaft is not in backwards. Also the front shaft has the holes pointing down, same as rear.
Is there supposed to be a disc/washer on the oiler going to the front shaft? Did I lose a part when I disassembled? I am unsure of my next step. I ran the engine again today after confirming the above, and still found little oil going to the front rockers.

Gene, I re-read you answer a few times. Maybe I did assemble wrong. The small disc with the hole, does the disc go against the oiler or against the rear rocker arm?

Thanks again to all.
Doug

The resricting washer with metering hole was new for 1933 and continued on thru 1936.
It has been a long time since I had my '34 apart so I am rembering little.

The 1933 Engineering manual says due to the 1933 engines have the engine lower in the back and this oil metering device was used to insure good oil flow to the front rocker arm shaft, From the poor illustration in the manual the restrictor is against the center oiler.
The oil flow thru the shafts is under very low pressure with some of the pressured flow being reduced by the oil passing into the over flow tube. Main amount of oil just fills the lower par of the shaft where the wear occurs .
The old trick was to crimp the over flow tube to get more oil to flow to the rocker arns,

A lot of the over flow tubes that I have seen were crimped (pinched) not completely shut but enough to restrict the flow causing more oil to stay in the shaft.

It sounds as ff the oil flow is OK but all going to the rear half.

Thanks to all above for your help.
I have found the cause of no oil to the front rocker shaft. Some dummy (me) had the rear shaft installed with the holes facing up.
All is good now, but there is some leakage where the oiler fitting joins both shafts. Does anyone have a suggestion to cure this, other than new shafts and a new oiler fitting????

Thanks again...

Hi Doug,

Thanks for letting us know that you were able to solve the situation. And don’t feel so bad. We have all done some similar “stellar” things. In many cases the fix was pretty expensive!

I would not be too concerned with the leakage where the shafts fit into the oil distribution fitting. As long as you have oil coming out the top of each rocker arm at idle there is more than enough oil flowing through the shafts.

Think of it this way. If you stop that leakage where is that oil going to go? There will be slightly more flow through the shafts and more oil through the tube that eventually drains back to the crankcase.