The y block I have came with these hokey external oilers that fish underneath the valve covers and tie into the old rocker shaft oil drain tubes. That have been cut and modified to be the supply side now.

tied

When they did this they got solder on the inside of the passenger side elbow and it never oiled. This burn up that side. I found a replacement set of rockers but now that I am putting it back together I want to go with a better system for oiling.

I drilled out the head oil passageway gunk with a quarter inch drill bit and tried bolting a grease fitting to see if I could unblock the original oil passageway. That did not work...



So being defeated I have decided to use the external oil system until I am able to go through the motor and get it oiling like it should. I like the look of a different external oil set up I have on another spare engine where the oil goes through the valve cover bolts and the copper line is twice as large, so I will use it instead of the small line running underneath the valve cover gasket that this motor had when it came to me.



One thing that confuses me with this oil set up on my spare motor that uses the valve cover bolts and rocker stand cap is whoever put the motor together used the front two valve cover bolts to install the oiling bolts and rocker pstand caps. On the driver side there is no hole drilled through the rock tube that would allow this oil supply to get into the rocker shaft. Likewise both of the rear rocker stands have the drain tubes yet the passenger side has no hole where it would be able to empty out of the rocker shaft.

Do I need to drill holes so that each rocker shaft has a supply and an exit for the oil? Or can I just use the holes that were originally for the drain tubes as my supply and let the exit be just the small holes that lube the rockers themselves?

Thank you for any advice on this as I am pretty green to these y blocks.

What year engine are you dealing with?  The ’54, ’55, ’63 and ’64 engines used a cross-drilled camshaft rather than a camshaft with a grooved journal that's found in the other years.  The cross-drilled camshafts must be in a certain position before you get a oil path through them.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

The block is stamped B9AEF with COTE stamped on the heads.

  
I'll repost these photos. Hopefully they'll help with your problem and hopefully the other oiler set you have are like these.  Oil feeds through the rocker shaft stand , one on each side. Small orifice, I think 9/64", You align the small hole on the stud to center of the aluminum spacer with the slot machined in it by raising or lowering the stud ( screw in or out).  You need to stay small on your delivery of oil volume so as not to starve the rest of the oiled system in the engine.  You will needs a single hole in each shaft under the spacer.

Of course, you tie both sides together, using only one feed line from the oil gallery on the side of the engine; maybe teed off of you oil pressure gauge line. May have to make up some fittings for the 5/16"  24 thread studs.  Maybe seal with copper washers. I'm no expert but I think they would solve your immediate problem.  And, in your case, if that were my "old" engine I'd pinch the oil outlet/overflow tubes shut/closed.  Good luck.

Thanks for the responses! That is the style of oilier I will be using. My rocker rail only has one hole on the top of each side. This hole will now be used by the external oiliers instead of the drain tubes from the factory. 

My question is do i need to drill another hole for the drain tubes or can I leave the rocker shaft undrilled and leave out the drain tubes?

The ends of the drain tubes extend into the shafts and keeps them in place, not able to spin or move in any direction.  Some people take the tubes out and dress or turn a bolt down that extends quarter inch into the shaft to lock it in place; you could just pinch the ends flat and leave them; I expect your shafts and rockers are worn enough that lots of oil will get through to lubricate everything. You'd drill another oil hole in the end that you use the oiler stud on. The reason I'd pinch the tubes would be to keep as high oil pressure as possible in case you use 1/4" tubing or drill too big a hole; even though, if you have the same set-up as pictured the 9/64" holes in the studs will restrict the oil volume enough.  Then, there's the problem if steel chips from the drilled holes....I'd probably drill a 1/8" then a 3/16" and then a 1/4" slowly in order to keep the chips very small....them flush them out by washing and blowing through the other holes....slim pencil magnet.....you'd need to disassemble the assemblies, probably, but maybe not.  May even be necessary to unplug on end of the shaft and re-plug. Damn, it's always something but you definitely don't want little steel shavings eating the bearings out. or galling pump rotor.  I expect you'll get it oiling with the stud oilers, though.

Got everything back together. External oilers seem to be working just fine. Had to put a new rear main seal in as well. When I get her out in the sun shine I will get better photos.