Thread: Oil problem on 390FE

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G'day, I have a 63 gal with a mild 390 and I have run into a rather large hickup..

This motor has a hydralic cam and lifters, alloy intake (streetmaster 390) Its a 352 block but measures 406.. Cast iron heads with a bit of porting done.

I recently fitted a set of standard rockers in place of a set of adjustables reason being the jam nuts were flogged out and I couldnt find any. Anyway I know the posts on both sets are identical (alloy) and there is only a difference in the bolts that hold them down ie. 2 oiling bolts out of 8 and if you have them in the right place you cant go wrong.

I had them dipped in a tank for a day so they would be clean and there would be no blockages and when I bolted them down no oil would come out of them?.. Even when the motor was running (manually oiling them) I dont get it.

So now I have them pulled down inspecting them but havent come across anything obvious, only that the posts were as tight as hell on the shaft... Could this mean that the rocker post was not quite lined up with the rocker shaft and cutting off oil around the oiling bolt? Hmmm, I dont think so, not with both sides anyway. The shafts are clean, you can play them like a flute..

Any ideas would be really good!!!

You have oil in the pan, right?

head gaskets ? do they get oil thru the deck if so is the head gasket is blocking a oil galley ? .i never work on one

the rockers are fed oil up from number 2 and 4 cam bearing where it then goes sideways a bout an inch to align with the hole going up to the bolt area for the rocker stand.

Blockage in these sideways passages always was a problem on the ford ohv engines from 1954 up thru the models until the 221 and 429 engines with the lifter/pushrod fed oil like the chevy.

Remove the rocker shaft and spin engine with starter to see if oil comes out those holes in the heads---if it does your rocker shafts may be assembled up side down (memory)

If not---u can try blowing down with air or even a u-joint grease gun tip on a grease gun to see if you can force out any sludge blockage--

If all else fails---remove heads to get at arre where the oil goes sideways

Just to clear things this is a exsisting running engine that ran well with the adjustables? And you do have the necked down bolt in the correct holes? The oil feed hole is in the cupped bolt hole and you'll see the oil hole inside the cup. Even tho you've cleaned the shafts are you certain they are clean inside and not gummed up? Have you tried just swapping the non adj rockers onto the assy's your adjustables were on? They are both the same with only the rocker arm itself different. Also note the non adj rocker has a 1.73 ratio vs the adj at 1.76. So you'll lose some lift. Crane sells a replacement adjuster with a lock nut for like $60. I'm sure there are still sets in stock at Jegs or Summit. You do need to retap the rockers for the Crane adjusters but that's easy. The aluminum stands can be tight to get on the shafts sometimes. Also the some of the early and aftermarket stands don't have enough of the bottom opened up to let enough oil thru. Later Ford aluminum stands have more of a squarish opening on the bottom that let more oil in. Holes in the rocker shafts point towards the bottom. There are also a few different kinds of oem Ford shafts with different hole count and spacing. Just take a good look at everything and I'm sure you'll spot something.

hey guys,

I wrote a reply a while ago but doest look like its been posted, anyway no bother. Yes there is oil in the pan about 50psi on the gauge. It has to be the shafts on the non adjustable rockers. I took one bank apart and then conducted an experiment
-placed oil drain back pan on
-bolted down single post to oil gallery hole with necked down bolt
-wound motor over and oil flowed out
A friend told me they used felt in the shafts to restrict oil flow and evenly disperse it but I cant see any.. I will have the shaft CLEANED really well this time.
I will let you how it goes.

On another note, Adjustable rockers. Should I collapse the lifter on adjustment or just turn the lock nut till it makes contact with the lifter and then another half turn?