im new to the form and new to the y block so im looking for any help i can get. i picked up a 64 ford pick up with a 292 y block and a 4speed. before going to look at the truck i was told that it had a rod knocking, but as soon as i heard it run i knew that it was the valves. i checked the lash on all the valves and set the lash at .19 and this fixed the knocking problem. while i had the covers off i realized that there was no oil. i did a little research and found that the y block is notorious for oiing problems. my questions are...

1.how do i check to see if my rocker shafts are on the right way? also if someone could explain how that assembly works. i dont understand how the oil is delivered to the rockers.

2. i found little pieces of metal by where the valve springs sit. what is that metal from? i read somewhere that this is a sighn that the motor was being ran with no oil getting to the top of the motor.

3. the rocker arms and shaft were heavily clogged with sledged up oil, i cleaned them a little bit and was wondering if its worth giving hem a deep clean or should just get a new set.

** im only looking to get a running motor. nothing special i just wanna be able to cruise it around once in a while**

The most foolproof way is to take them off and make sure that the stands are installed correctly and not blocking the hole in the shaft and that the hole in the shaft corresponds with the hole in the head.

You can be reasonably sure by looking at the overflow tube. I think the passenger side is at the front and the driver side is at the back.

Metal is never good. Unless they are totally trashed, clean them up the best you can and oil them manually until you find the problem and don't go on any road trips any time soon. There is no sense in destroying another set.

You can get by for quite a while by oiling them manually, once a week or so.


Lawrenceville, GA

There is a lot of info re. rocker oiling on this site.

Try the "tags" at top right of the page for links.

This may be of interest;

http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/Topic83868.aspx


South Australia

so i found out that the little pieces of metal were umbrella valve seals. is that going to affect my oil consumption plus the no oil to the rockers enough to make it bad idea t drive the truck. even just a couple miles??

no oil to rockers. remove the rockers you will se a hole in the head that matches the hole in 1 rocker stand,try cleaning the hole in head with air.i would gues the rocker shaft is full of sludge in side. pull the core plugs and be sure to cleane the inside.i remove the plugs by running a tap into the core plug it will eventually turn and wiil com out.when rockers are off see how many valve seals ar broke if most ar gone you will need to drop oil pan and clean out the pan and oil suction bell. if you chang the valve seals remove the spark plugs and be for changing the seales roll the engine with the starter and make sur oil comes out the rocker lube hole. if it does you are in luck. it is vitel to get valve seals out of the pan as they will restrict oilflow and eventualley get into the pump . if only 1 seal broken it is a good time to replace them. but if no oil is flowing frome lube hole you have a magor isue. good luck.

As Charley said, the only way is to take off the stand and check to see if the hole in head lines up with the hole in the stand.

It work as follows. The oil comes up from the cam bearing through a passageway in the block. There is a hole in the head hat continues the flow. However, the holes in the head are offset from the block so its not a straight run. Th oil continues into the hole in the rocker stand into the rocker arm shaft and then through holes to the rocker arm. Excess oil is exited through the overflow tubes .

I would thoroughly clean the shaft and rocker arms. The plugs in the ends are replaceable, a good parts store should have them. New parts aren't cheap.



54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

thanks for the help. im gonna clean every thing up and go from there