Hi Guys, My 55' 324, has low oil pressure... my mechanic recommends putting a grove on the front cam journal...
Anyone else do that ??? THANKS...

 

That's not enough information for good feed back. How low is low?
Were proper troubleshooting methods employed to discover the root cause of the low pressure? And have you found that from disassembly and inspection?

Have you asked him what the purpose of the cam bearing surface groove is?
Low oil psi is low oil psi and can only be remedied with tightening up the clearances in the oil circuits...aka oil galleys feeding the crank cam lifters etc. AKA a rebuild.
Oil pressure is a function of the pump, its spring relief tension and all bearing clearances.

He might have tribal knowledge of enhancements to improve oil distribution. That could be be what hes attempting to do.
I'm not familiar with this engine so this doesn't make sense as far as pressure goes.

 

How many miles are on the engine? Chances are the engine needs a rebuild.

 

Regardless, I too am interested in hearing about how a groove in the cam bearing can rejuvenate a worn out engine. Not saying it can't happen, I just don't know how.

 

What is the oil pressure?

 

It's a newly rebuilt 324... press about 15 #s... told I could go old school and put a tube from the filter to the rockers or
put a grove in the cam bearing... but what width and depth would that be???

 

15psi at what RPM? Any problems observed? What weight oil? What are the ambient temps? Mechanical or electrical oil pressure gauge?

 

I would recommend that you quit listening to whomever told you that.
They obviously don't have a clue.

There are several holes in each cam bearing that must be aligned with corresponding holes in the block.
Or the engine won't oil properly.
Since the engine was re-built recently, perhaps the cam bearings were not properly installed.

 

The logic for the grove in the cam bearing is because the cam rotates so fast, the holes for the oil to pass through
line up for a nano second as they pass the other holes... a grove would give a "well" for the oil to be in...

 

Makes sense but wouldn't that mostly affect oil volume vs. oil pressure?

 

I'd hardly think you could measure anything an Oldsmobile engine does with the duration of a nanosecond.

I worked on FAA radars and they hardly did things as fast as a nanosecond. Just FYI, that's .000000001 seconds.

 

1)... Volume not pressure... mmm
2)... Nano second..., just a figure of speech, HaHa... but with a crank at 3K /minute, whats the cam doing RPM wise...
and the little holes are passing each other at that speed...
Last thought... I keep hearing there were problems with low oil pressure back then... so I'm perplexed...

 

 

I'm not familiar with that oiler kit.

I recently used my OTC oil pressure gauge to measure the oil pressure on my 71 98. I got about 50 psi at idle with 20W-50. I verified it with both of the OTC gauges I have.

The 20W-50 bumped up the oil pressure and caused a lifter tick to subside. I think I'm going to remove the valve covers and check the rocker arms and pushrods for movement to ID where the tick is coming from.

 

One important thing to remember. These engines worked perfectly for thousands of miles without cutting grooves in the cam bearings. An engine that is rebuilt properly will have adequate oil pressure. Quit listening to home remedies and find out what is wrong with your engine. Listen to Charlie Jones. He is very knowledgeable of these early Olds V8's.