Having an issue getting oil to come out the rockers arms / shaft bracket on a 1965 skylark 300. I pulled the shaft bracket off the head and I have good oil pressure coming through the front hole on the head. I aligned the rockers arms with the holes in the under side of shaft and I'm able to push oil in reverse through the rocker arm hole into the shaft using an oiler with mystery oil in it. I reinstalled the shaft bracket on the head and tried priming agian and I'm still not getting oil to come out of the rocker arms. I'm spinning the oil pump at 2000 rpm with priming tool and drill. Any help would be appreciated.
Just brainstorming: Did you have the rocker assemblies apart? Is the front rocker support different from the rest? Is it possoble the wrong support got in the front?
The only thing I did was replaced timing chain, replaced gaskets on oil pump and filled with Vaseline to get to prime. Other than nothing was touched. The car had been sitting a while so just wanted to get oil throughout before I started.
Check and see if the small passages are plugged with Vasiline. It needs to get hot to melt and mix with the oil, and it eventually settles out in places where it stays and some is removed by filter. Over time a lot is eliminated. But a packed gearcase it gets washed out cold, and can plug small passages that have low flow and pressure. (Like Buick rocker assemblies...)
On a 430 the shafts are market for right and left top and bottom. Maybe the 300 is the same? Also seen the shafts be full of sludge and crap from years of running.
First off see if it will oil the rockers with the pushrods out. Here is the problem, the oil hole is at the bottom so the rocker closes off the hole, especially after the parts have worn-in. In operation oil does get to the bushings due to movement but not very much. Probably one reason why pushrod oiling was used on later engines as the volume of oil that flows through the bushing interface may not be enough to optimize wear reduction. And I'm not sure flipping the shaft would be any better. You'd get more oil flow but it could be enough to reduce oil pressure. Jim
More than likely this has been an ongoing issue way before you did this work and you NOW just noticed it, I’m sure anything you did to the front of the engine had no effect on this issue. It might be time to disassemble and critique your shafts and rockers and oiling holes.
Just how I figured out there was a right and wrong way to install them. First vid was way to much oil on top and the second was after reading the manual and flipping them over .
Thank you to everyone for your help. I was expecting a lot of oil to flow, but after watching Briz's videos I actually didn't have an issue. I was able to fire the skylark up tonight after years of sitting with no issues.
