No Oil up Top (1 Viewer)

[StringSlasher]

'72 FJ40: ongoing F-engine, frame off rebuild

After re-building the engine in my 72 FJ40 that had been sitting around for the last thirty years, I don't have any oil making it up to the top of the cylinder head where the valves and rockers live. I have a 9/72 FJ40, or more specifically, early to 9/72 (no fuel door); and the original block F-engine runs pretty well except for no oil reaches the split rocker shafts through the copper (now steel) tube. An oil pressure gauge attached to the sender unit port reads 60psi when cold and carb is choked off and falls to about 45 when engine idles warm.

I removed the engine side cover, detached the vertical steel feeder tube, and removed the tube fitting threaded into the block at the second camshaft bearing. When I look down into the threaded hole above the second camshaft bearing where the feeder tube used to be, I can see that the hole in the second camshaft bearing lines up more or less with the feeder tube hole. Well that's good, but when I turn the crankshaft I never see the thru-holes in the camshaft line up with the bearing hole. I think this explains why I have no oil up top but why can't I see the camshaft holes? My first thought is that the camshaft is shifted front-to-back or maybe my "new" camshaft is missing the holes all together. Anyone else have a similar experience?

(camshaft pictured below is the old camshaft I replaced)

 

[73FJ40]

@StringSlasher
Camshafts changed from F to 2F engines, relocating the drilling from the second to the third cam bearing.

some cams (see below) were drilled in both locations.

 

[StringSlasher]

Thanks for the reply @73FJ40. I already have the radiator out, harmonic balancer removed, and timing gear cover off and I'll pull the camshaft tomorrow. (Good to see that the timing gears had some oil on them from the oiler post.) Amazing how much easier things come apart when they have been recently assembled.

Seems like I would've picked up on the holes being on a different bearing journal as I did compare the old and new camshafts before installing. I am leaning towards a slightly shifted camshaft that does not allow the oil that passes through the oil ports and bearing holes to make it through the camshaft holes. I know that the helical timing gears induce an axial thrust on the camshaft but I am unclear on where that thrust is absorbed. I'm thinking I need a shim somewhere to center up the camshaft holes with the holes in the bearing sleeves. I guess I'll find out tomorrow when I pull the camshaft out. If it turns out I have the wrong camshaft there will be an EXTREMELY lightly used 2F camshaft for sale.

 

[73FJ40]

It's my understanding that the distributor driven gear keeps the camshaft properly located, along with the thrust plate at the front of the cam.

 

[StringSlasher]

Yep, holes on the third journal bearing instead of the second…

 

[Steamer]

Why not have the cam drilled in the #2 journal?

 

[StringSlasher]

Those bearing journals are hardened and I’m not qualified to run a few holes through them but if I were to find someone with the ways and means I don’t suppose a set of extra holes are going to hurt anything.

It’s either that or find a guy with the opposite problem and arrange a trade.

Advice to anyone trying to remove a camshaft from an otherwise fully assembled F motor: Don’t forget about the fuel pump…
It might be worth the price of a gasket to preserve your old pump or even worse your brand new $200 pump

 

[Steamer]

You’re not the first here on Mud to encounter this and discussed in some threads here if you do some searching. As stated in post #2 above, an extra set of holes is common in some replacement cams. I’m sure "Delta Cams" in Tacoma could drill your cam properly. Quite a few here have used their services.

I’m curious. Where & when did you get the 2F cam? I thought they were getting very difficult to find.

 

[StringSlasher]

Got the camshaft at JT Outfitters in Mid-January but everything shows up in a RockAuto box.

 

[Steamer]

Got the camshaft at JT Outfitters in Mid-January but everything shows up in a RockAuto box.

Got it. It’s probably an ITM cam. I got an ITM cam and ITM lifters from Rock Auto late December 2022. The ITM cams now have been out of stock for months. The Melling MC-803 was a popular replacement cam but no longer available. Looks like ITM cams may be over also. Delta Cams could refurbish your original cam and the lifters also.

 

[StringSlasher]

Updating this thread...
After a week of searching for an affordable replacement cam or someone willing to add a few missing oil-path holes to the cam I recently purchased, I decided to get out the old original beat-up cam and do some experimenting. I took a garden-variety center punch and lightly tapped it on one of the the bearing journals. I ended up with a pretty good crater, ...Whaaat??? So I got out my little 12V cordless and a standard drill bit and was able to elaborate the crater... No slipping, wiggle, or drill-bit wander. Maybe I am qualified?

Turns out the camshaft is cast iron and rather easily drilled. Anyone with access to a crude drill press and regular drill bits can add the two oil path holes as long as you are careful to retain the original hole alignment. which in my case was pretty easy because I had a template on the the other journal bearing.

Oil up on Top? Yep!

 

[StringSlasher]

Thanks for the help @73FJ40 and @Steamer

 

[Steamer]

can add the two oil path holes as long as you are careful to retain the original hole alignment.

Yup. The angle of one hole to the other is key. We had a discussion on that angle "HERE"
Nice job. Glad you solved your problem.