Thread: Opinions appreciated on plugging the oil passage holes on my FE390 heads

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Hello friends. I am anxiously awaiting the call from the machine shop who has my FE390 heads after my recent valve guides leakage problem. I wondered if you experts could give me your opinions about something I was told by a gentleman who has built and raced several of these motors over the years. It seems as though when my engine was losing oil some due to it being blown out the exhaust from the leaking valve guides, my oil pressure gauge was fluctuating quite a bit once I was about a quart low. If there was not a full 6 quarts flowing through the motor the gauge would go back and forth between 40-70 psi when I was going down the road and pushing roughly 4000 rpm. I'm fairly certain I have a high volume oil pump in this motor as the previous owner stated. I do have solid lifters, high performance cam and valve springs. This motor was recently rebuilt and has been bored .060 over. Cam bearings were replaced. Anyway the gentleman told me that with these FE motors they tend to pump more oil into the valve/rocker/head area than needed and less is being pumped into the crank area causing several things to occur that could be causing my problem. Has anyone ever heard of clogging the hole in each head which I believe is the one that the rocker rail bolt with the hole in it is used to pump more oil into the heads? Since I'm getting ready to put them back on the motor it will be easier while they're off to do this. I was told this will keep more oil downstairs but still allow enough to come up and keep the rocker rail area happy. Any guidance in this area would be greatly appreciated and as always, thank you very much for taking the time to help me with my issues with this motor.

I'll echo Denny's thought. If your experienced, and have the tools, go for it.
But - unless you're spinning it in excess of 5 or 6 thousand for hours at a time, there's no need to modify the oiling system.
The high volume oil pump has a remote possibility of flooding the cylinder heads, but if the motor was setup with loose clearances, it isn't likely.

Turn the block upside down on the engine stand. Build a little cone of modeling clay about an inch high and mush it down onto the oil pump pickup. Oil the clay so that it will not stick to the pan bottom......do not use PlayDoh, it will not hold its shape. Use oil-based modeling clay from Michaels or other craft or hobby shop. Lay a new pan gasket in place and snug down the corner pan bolts. Take the pan back off and measure the height of the cone of clay. That will tell you how far the pickup is off the bottom of the pan. Shoot for 3/8" to 1/2". If the pan is closer than that, the pump can suck the pan bottom up against the pickup and shut off flow to the pump. If the pan is farther away than that, you may be starving the motor for oil if she's down a quart or more.

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Stock size oil pump, don't restrict oil flow to top UNLESS you have a full roller bearing rocker system-----and I doubt that you do-Erson out of business-----
If you don't have a block with NO oil to lifter galleys( early 58 fe and later HP solid tappet versions) you can use lifters with edm hole in bottom for lubing cam lobe and hollow pushrods to oil rocker arm end------

The FE family needs as much oil drain back to oil things as any engine out there and mods usually down grade that-the offset flow for about an inch or so in the headgasket area typically looooads up with sludge and blocks flow to the top.if you restrict the oil galleys at the top you will accelerate this blockage

Thanks everyone. Sounds like a good idea to leave everything as it is and keep the engine oil topped off properly. On pins and needles waiting for the outcome of the machine shop wondering how they're going to handle my heads situation.

Originally Posted by stotzbotz

Hello friends. I am anxiously awaiting the call from the machine shop who has my FE390 heads after my recent valve guides leakage problem. I wondered if you experts could give me your opinions about something I was told by a gentleman who has built and raced several of these motors over the years. It seems as though when my engine was losing oil some due to it being blown out the exhaust from the leaking valve guides, my oil pressure gauge was fluctuating quite a bit once I was about a quart low. If there was not a full 6 quarts flowing through the motor the gauge would go back and forth between 40-70 psi when I was going down the road and pushing roughly 4000 rpm. I'm fairly certain I have a high volume oil pump in this motor as the previous owner stated. I do have solid lifters, high performance cam and valve springs. This motor was recently rebuilt and has been bored .060 over. Cam bearings were replaced. Anyway the gentleman told me that with these FE motors they tend to pump more oil into the valve/rocker/head area than needed and less is being pumped into the crank area causing several things to occur that could be causing my problem. Has anyone ever heard of clogging the hole in each head which I believe is the one that the rocker rail bolt with the hole in it is used to pump more oil into the heads? Since I'm getting ready to put them back on the motor it will be easier while they're off to do this. I was told this will keep more oil downstairs but still allow enough to come up and keep the rocker rail area happy. Any guidance in this area would be greatly appreciated and as always, thank you very much for taking the time to help me with my issues with this motor.

Tap the hole supplying oil to the stand/shaft (on top of the head). It's about 5/16" and that's tap drill size for a 3/8"-16 tap. Now you can thread in a short 3/8 set screw, you just don't want to use hardened ones. You can drill maybe a 3/32 hole thru the set screw this size will be a good starting place. If you want to restrict more you can remove these set screws and install another set with smaller holes. they screw in and out with a 3/16 allen wrench after you remove the rocker assembly, no need for loc-tite the set screw is trapped in place.
But all this is really only a Band Aid to loose clearances around the rockers, you should have no more than say .004, make sure the holes in the shaft are down. your HV pump wouldn't drain your pan if it had no where to pump it out. remember pumps don't make pressure, restriction does. Hope this helps

Haven't had any issues before, but only thing I do to EVERY "FE" that comes in is to do the oil galley mod. The casting is thin between the water jacket and oil galley for the heads, so what you do is install a 2" long 1/4" split roll pin into the hole. The split faces the lifter valley, and you drive it to just over 5" to the bottom of the pin. This should always be done, as you do not know if and when it may crack and leak. If anyone is interested, I can post up the info from the AERA bulletin.

The mod I mentioned doesn't restrict the oil flow, but merely prevents the oil and water from mixing if it cracks.

Originally Posted by DennyW

(( If anyone is interested, I can post up the info from the AERA bulletin.))

I'd like to see it Denny.

Having had my fair share of FE's

You do not want to block the hole completely in your 390 FE heads, instead, believe it or not, you want to add a small restrictor to them, such as a Holley fuel jet (see attached). This has been an old school trick for years.

If you don't have roller bearing rocker shaft assys, you not only don't want to restrict the flow up there but possibly add to the flow-this has been done many times back in the sludge days(non detergent oil) by running exteral lines to the upstairs from the oil pressure sender port and entering under the valve covers then hooking to the hollow shafts.

In the non drilled solid lifter blocks I have fabbed individual lines to run to each tappet boss for additional oil plus also ability to run hydraulics.

Layer aftermarket rods don't have adquete side clearances plus don't have the oil squirters to oil upper areas of crankcase-----

These mods over the years have made it even more important to have proper and adqueqte drainback to the valley

and FE engines have oil pressure relief at end of system-one in pump is just to protect the filter on cold start ups-----

Denny the pic you show is a side oiler 427---------I don't know if all the FE over the years had the relief valve at the rear but I seem to remember (BISTR)? that all the others had it also------I'll check the core blocks I have in storage

Not sure about the 61 390HP but the 406 and the centeroiler as well as the side oiler 427's had a relief valve at back of block

Ford's FE Iron Heads have a 5/16" hole coming up to and thru the head. Ford would restrict down to 3/16" with the use of steel shim head gaskets also I believe Edelbrock Aluminum heads only have a 3/16" hole coming thru the head. so restricting is really nothing new.
Also, there is a well put together article in the in the FE Forums FAQ site that should cover everything discussed here.
oil