VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 37 engine. What is this?

Does anyone recognize this?

Hi Skidplate

It's the oil distributor valve.

PS
That's the style that was used in 1937, 38, and 39.
It was changed in 1940 when the valve was mounted in the side of the block with a sheet metal cover.
The change was concurrent with a 15% increase in oil pump output, and oiling the rocker arms through a metering system from the high pressure side of the system instead of the low pressure side as before.
And the hot idle oil pressure was roughly doubled with the change

In case you are not familiar with the oil system on a 1937 Chevrolet...

Oil supplied to the connecting rod dippers via the spray nozzles in the oil pan, and oil supplied to the rocker arms, must open and pass through the spring loaded oil distributor valve first.
This means the connecting rods and rocker arms are on the LOW pressure side of the valve.
The upstream (supply) side of the valve is therefore the HIGHER pressure side of the valve, and the main bearings, camshaft bearings, and oil gauge are supplied from the main oil gallery on this side of the valve.

Hope that helps.

So then is this something that can be checked for accuracy or even adjusted for better lubrication. I mean given the vast changes in modern oils, one would think I should be doing some subtle tweaking?

I DID notice my oil pressure gauge is substantially lower than my straight 8 Buick's.

These engines are designed to work as a low pressure system. Using 10w-30 oil my '37 showed about 2 -3 psi at idle and about 15 psi at speed.

Emphatically... NO.

Don't ever tinker with an oil distributor valve.

PS
And do not use or let someone talk you into using heavy oils in dipper lubricated Chevrolets.
They were not designed for them.

The external valve was used from 1929-1936 also.
The high presssure side is never used for a open end line as all the pressure would follow the path of least resistance and no pressure would go to the main and cam bsearings.