Rocker Shaft Oiling

[Stubs68]

Posting to possibly get some shared experiences regarding Chrysler small block oil or lack of oil on passenger side rocker shaft. I am helping my son with his 340 that he recently changed the heads on. He went with the Edelbrock aluminum heads, kept the same rockers and shaft. When we prime the oil pump we get oil to the rocker shaft on the driver side but bone dry on passenger side. I have looked at my LA engine in my sweptline truck and my barracuda which are both 318 engines but can't see any major differences in rocker alignment? We have even tried a combination of priming the oil pump through the distributor housing and by cranking the engine over using the starter for short bursts. No oil on passenger side. When examining the shafts we do not see any source of blockage. When we take the head off we see that oil is getting to the head. For some unknown reason the oil is not travelling from the head to the rockers? Thought the rocker shafts were not aligning with head but the drivers side looks to be the same position as the passenger side? I have done a lot of things with engines through the years but I am not a mechanic. Has anyone else experienced this issue with SB engines? Any suggestions as to the problem and how to solve it? Thanks.

[Wildergarten]

Yep, this is odd. All I can think of is to look at the rocker shaft saddles for an oil hole, run a wire down it, find the corresponding inlet from the bottom of the head, and then look at the gasket to see if there is a corresponding passage.

[my5thmopar]

I would check shaft orientation. Not sure why no oil when cranking. Maybe the shaft is on wrong or plugged up. Two things. Notches and rotation. Driver side shaft notch down and to front. Passenger side shaft notch down and towards firewall. You have to rotate engine to get oil to both sides. Turn to about 90 degree TDC at #1 compression for passenger side. Then about 20 degrees ATDC on #6 for drivers side.

[PwrWgnDrvr]

Oil gets to the head thru the camshaft. It ONLY flows when the camshaft is momentarily lined up with the oil holes in the cam bearing during each rotation.. If the engine is not rotating continuously, no oil will get to the heads. Get the FSM and study the oiling diagram and it will be clear.

[Stubs68]

Thanks for all that great advice. We will take another look possibly tonight and look into your suggestions. Hope its something simple as I would hate to dig into a cam bearing issue? Will let you know if we have success.

[dbolterII]

make sure all the oil galley plugs are in the block... my machine shop left one out and I had no oil to either rocker bank on my 318 poly...

just throwing it out there ..... good luck ~d

[PwrWgnDrvr]

Per the original post, the engine was a running engine before changing the heads. That would preclude any issues with the block.

[Stubs68]

Yes, engine running before. Wanted to go with Eddy heads. He had some port work done, used same rockers and arms. Get oil on driver side but not pass side? Just talked with him today. He will run through everything again tonight and then try to prime pump while turning crank by hand......

[PwrWgnDrvr]

Turning by hand won't likely do it. It needs to be rotating continuously at least at cranking speed for a minute or more.
When I build the engine I use assembly grease/lube on the rockers, lifters, etc, start it and let the pump do its job.

[Kaegi]

it can take a while to get up there.