1973 F Oil Delivery to Head - No Rocker Arm Tube? (2 Viewers)

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Hello

I'm doing a rebuild on my stock March 1973 F Engine. I'm having the head done at a machinist who called recently and asked if I had another rocker assembly as mine was a bit worn. Luckily I have a parts engine from a 1969. I pulled off that assembly and had to undue the oil tube that connects to the rocker shaft fitting. I didn't remember doing this when I pulled apart my 73. I checked my pictures from before and sure enough there's no delivery tube connected to the arm. I've already removed the side plate and oil pan and replaced those gaskets, there's no tube floating around anywhere. Has anyone seen anything like this? Is there any alternative oil delivery the PO may have been using? This was basically a "farm rig" before I got it and I don't have any history.


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Where is your oil filter? If it's by the distributor you have a 9/73+ engine and oiler is up thru the rocker assembly and no external oil line. If oil filter is on the side of the intake manifold you need an external oil line to the rockers.
 
Well how about that? Yes, oil filter is next to distributor.

I looked up the engine code on the block, 524369, sometime after 9/73. Vin plate in doorjamb says March 73, I thought it was all original.
 
So just to be clear you need a later rocker assembly that has the oil feed passage to feed the rockers.

So the rocker shaft from the 69 can't be used in the f1.5 assembly? Should I have the one-piece shaft?
 
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My 5/74 F.5 has a one piece shaft.
So the rocker shaft from the 69 can't be used in the f1.5 assembly? Should I have the one-piece shaft?

My 74 F.5 has a one-piece shaft. Like the 2F, the oil comes up around a head bolt and travels diagonally through a passageway in the head and up into one of the rocker pedestals to feed the rocker shaft. I don’t believe a new shaft or bushings are available any more.

Just to mention, when that diagonal passageway from head bolt to rocker pedestal was machined into the head, it left a hole to the exterior just forward of the #5 spark plug. That leftover hole was closed off with a pressed in plug. (search galley plug) With the head off it is a prime time to drill, tap and install a screw in plug because the stock galley plugs have been known to leak or sometimes even blow out.
 
So the rocker shaft from the 69 can't be used in the f1.5 assembly? Should I have the one-piece shaft?

If you want oil to your rockers/valves getting oil you need the right assembly. My 2/73 FST model also had a 74 engine in it when I bought. PO said the original engine was tired and he replaced it. He still had the original engine and loaded it in the back along with a H42/bellhousing he was going to install.
 
Hello

I'm doing a rebuild on my stock March 1973 F Engine. I'm having the head done at a machinist who called recently and asked if I had another rocker assembly as mine was a bit worn. Luckily I have a parts engine from a 1969. I pulled off that assembly and had to undue the oil tube that connects to the rocker shaft fitting. I didn't remember doing this when I pulled apart my 73. I checked my pictures from before and sure enough there's no delivery tube connected to the arm. I've already removed the side plate and oil pan and replaced those gaskets, there's no tube floating around anywhere. Has anyone seen anything like this? Is there any alternative oil delivery the PO may have been using? This was basically a "farm rig" before I got it and I don't have any history.


View attachment 2436673
That's a 2-piece Rocker assembly and someone as used a cut-off 8mm bolt and nut to plug the male thread oil pipe inlet, located in the center of the rocker assembly on a brass union. You can see the hole where the pipe and flare nut should come through the head just below the home-made oil plug. That union contains 2 o-rings (one on each side of the rocker halves) to retain the oil, with a set screw in the back of it to keep the union centered in the small gap between the rocker sections. Maybe they engineered something brilliant or they just liked hearing the clattering from the valve train?
 
That's a 2-piece Rocker assembly and someone as used a cut-off 8mm bolt and nut to plug the male thread oil pipe inlet, located in the center of the rocker assembly on a brass union. You can see the hole where the pipe and flare nut should come through the head just below the home-made oil plug. That union contains 2 o-rings (one on each side of the rocker halves) to retain the oil, with a set screw in the back of it to keep the union centered in the small gap between the rocker sections. Maybe they engineered something brilliant or they just liked hearing the clattering from the valve train?


It is the current owner who thought he had the original engine in his 73 who installed an early head. Turns out he has a 74 engine with the improved oiling system. On the rocker assembly the oiling that meant oiling was now internal thru base. The head he has used a copper tub that fed oil up from the block. The two systems are not compatible. Add a later rocker assembly the head is not going to feed oil to it. Add the copper tube no place in the block to land it. There is no easy fix.
 
there was a pic floating around here where a PO ran an oil line from the oil preasure sending unit and ran it thru the valve cover.
 
there was a pic floating around here where a PO ran an oil line from the oil preasure sending unit and ran it thru the valve cover.


Guess it work, would have to be sure the flexible line under the cover clears all the moving parts. Also have to be sure the line is small enough to be sure it doesn't rob oil from other places. Personal think it sounds like a future post in the Hall of Shame thread.
 
Where you tap into a line on a 74 F engine. Tee off the sending unit on oil filter housing?


@calico kid talks about the line in this thread, but he hasn't been on mud in almost a year, pics are coming up, maybe Mark @65swb45 has pics from way back then????
 
@calico kid talks about the line in this thread, but he hasn't been on mud in almost a year, pics are coming up, maybe Mark @65swb45 has pics from way back then????

No pics Paul, but it certainly wasn’t the first time I’d seen it. I remember talking with Vic in Michigan (@nuclearlemon remembers him) about this back in about 1992. He said he had done it more than once.:hillbilly: He also admitted to some other things I’d rather not share.:censor:
 
Well how about that? Yes, oil filter is next to distributor.

I looked up the engine code on the block, 524369, sometime after 9/73. Vin plate in doorjamb says March 73, I thought it was all original.
i rebuilt my 4/73 motor recently. you can throw on parts from the 2f oil filter brand new. it will oil much better! apparently these motors are notorious for bad oiling. it takes almost 30 seconds (or so I'm told) for the oil to reach the cam, when it first turns over every time you start it. i dont think the chevy equivalent of the F engine even had an oil pump lol. throw a 2f pump on there!!
 
Great info here. I am rebuilding my 5/73 F engine and want to put a 2F oil pan on so that I can use a new oil pump. Honestly, the conversation is a bit sophisticated for my knowledge level. Can I just replace the pump and oil pan, or will I have to modify the rocker oil supply.
 
No pics Paul, but it certainly wasn’t the first time I’d seen it. I remember talking with Vic in Michigan (@nuclearlemon remembers him) about this back in about 1992. He said he had done it more than once.:hillbilly: He also admitted to some other things I’d rather not share.:censor:

I bought parts from Vic years ago when I bought an fj60 in the late 90s and it had been in a wreck - needed the core support and some other bits. He was a good dude!

Even before that, I had an fj40 that I replaced the engine in and it was a cobbled mess. One thing it needed was an oil line up to the rockers. I ended up drilling and tapping a hole just inward of the oil filter and that provided oil to the rockers with a new copper tube and fittings.

As far as the last question - I'm unsure of the oil pump and pan between the F and 2F
 

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