piperman60

Hello all, I need some advice please. I have just bought a 58 super 88 and i have only had the motor running for maybe 5 minutes at the most and dont see any oil coming into the rocker cover area? I have removed the sump and there seems to be plenty of oil around the crank, conrods etc. The filter on the oil pump itself was very clean and also the oil filter for the motor was full of oil. I dont think this motor has run for maybe one or more years and i was a bit worried about no oil in the rockers. Can it take some time for the oil to start pumping into that area if it has been some time since the motor was run? Any advice is very welcome as i would rather be safe than sorry. Thanks for any replies in advance. Ray.

D. Yaros

I would most definitely be proceeding with caution here. It sounds as though you may have plugged oil galleys? One thing to try is to pour oil directly onto the valves/heads to see if the running engine circulates it?

If it does not, then you need to probe deeper.

Tedd Thompson

You might try popping the distributor and with an electric drill spin the oil pump. This will at least let you know if your pump will eventually push oil through the engine with out spinning any dry bearings. I've never done this on a 371 but should work the same as a SBC.....Tedd

59-59-59

I would run an oil pressure gauge to confirm you are actually getting any readings. Disconnect the original oil pressure sender off the oil filter housing and connect a known good mechanica lgauge from there. The way you get oil to the top end is from the camshaft spinning and pushing oil up a tiny hole to the rocker assembly. This could be plugged up and can be cleaned by jamming welding wire or something similar down the hole to clean it up and unplug any dirt or garbage in the hole

Texascarnut

I'd try replacing the pump with a new high volume pump (not high pressure) as it sounds as if the pump has bought it or the pickup is clogged. Properly prime the new pump it as Ted suggested. I'd also ream the return galleries as suggested by Dave; I use a small diameter tightly wound spring for that purpose. If no oil at the rockers is observed after that you may need to remove the rocker tube assemblies and clean them out and the passages that routes oil to them. If you do the latter it is a good time to replace the push rods to get rid of any that are worn out of tolerance.

Good luck!

FYI, Not sure if the 371 used the same oil pump as 394, 400, and 455 engines but it probably does if so, the part number for a new Melling high volume oil pump is M22FHV. Melling's online catalog drops off at 1959 engines so a call to them or your local parts house might be in order before buying.

piperman60

Thanks very much Texascarnut and everyone else for your replies, Im going to put the pan back on and install an oil pressure gauge and also prime the pump with vaso as i was told it may be dry due to sitting for so long? I'll keep you all posted on any developements, Once again cheers for your help. Ray.ps, i looked at the filter on the oil pump and it was as clean as a whistle, no gunk at all in the sump etc. Cheers.

piperman60

Hello again. I took off the oil pump and primed it with vasoline, cleaned all the parts etc and today i started the car. It was a little noisy for about 30 seconds then you could hear the oil pump come in and the noise in the rockers stopped straight away. i then checked the rockers and low and behold oil was on the rocker gear. must have just needed a good priming. Just wanted to thank one and all for your great help.now i need to move on to the brakes, Wow what a learning curve , Phew. Cheers, Ray

Tedd Thompson

Just curious, and for my own information, what does Vasoline do to help prime a pump? I've never heard of this in all my years of messing around with cars. Are we talking about the same Vaseline or is Vasoline a Aussie version of something else.....Tedd

piperman60

Yes we are talking about the same vasoline you can use for dry skin etc. When i went to my local car parts shop he also told me that people use it to do the same thing for pumps etc. I also talked to some hydraulic hose fitting guys and they said the same thing. I quess it works like having oil in the pump only slightly thicker and will stay inside the pump without draining out like the oil could do and loosing pressure? I will drain the oil and replace the filter etc. All i know is that it worked fine and now i have oil pumping into the rockers. Cheers. Ray.