Just began restore on 50 chevy coupe 216 motor. Drove off and on for 2 days and oil pressure slowly started falling while driving. Lucky I was close to home. Checked immediately and no oil pressure out of main t-valve, where I took off oil pressure line to guage. Im thinking oil pump screen is blocked with crap. QUESTION: Before I even start, can the pan be removed without pulling the engine, it looks very close. Note: I had good oil pressure and oil was flowing to rockers just fine. While oil was hot I drained it and got some old valve cover cork remnants also in the drained oil.
Pan can be pulled in the car sometimes ya gota loosen the front mount. They dropped pans regulary back in the day to adjust the old poured rod bearings.
Yes the pan will come off without pulling motor, but the center steering idler/bell crank needs to be unbolted from the frame to provide clearance to get the pan down. Ray
Careful when you drop that pan. You will find a tube system running along one side which provides oil to the connecting rods through the dippers. On the opposite side of the pan you will find six "flat spots" in the pan. While you have the pan down and are cleaning it inside you can apply water from a hose to the tube system. Dial your pressure up/down until the water spurts from the tube and hits in the middle of the flat spots on the other side. If it does not hit in the middle bend the nozzle(s) until it does. This is called targeting the pan. If your tubes are not feeding the water to that area of the pan you can lose a rod. Rich
Still no oil to the rockers. Replaced the pump. Cleaned the pan. What about the oil distribution valve on motor side. It has 2 holes in it and no oil flowing out either hole, just the springloaded center hole is pumping oil?
Oil doesn't "flow out" of the other 2 holes in the distribution valve body, the oil comes from the pump up to the distribution valve center hole, then is distributed (metered by the spring-loaded plunger) to the main bearings, cam bearings, and top end as it flows into those 2 holes. So, if the center hole is pumping a good volume of oil your good to that point and may have a blockage or a leak somewhere up the line from there but the distribution valve has to be installed on the block before oil can get beyond that point. I can't remember how a '50 gets oil to the top end, on a '53 you can remove the side cover and there's a tube that carries the oil from the rear cam bearing up to the head. Check for blockage, a kink in the tube, or a leaky fitting. Also, the manual shows 2 different gaskets for the distribution valve and says to make sure they are installed in the correct order.
The oil gets to the top of the engine via a passage along side one of the head bolts. They used to get pluged up with sludge and the rockers ticked.
Not sure on the 216 but definitely true for the late 235. There is a passage from the block that bleeds oil through a triangle in the head gasket so it can flow around the bolt. I used RTV on that bolt's threads once and managed to block it nicely. Live and learn....that lesson ONE time. I think that the 216 takes its oil to the head via a tube behind the full height side cover. When the side cover was lowered for the 235, I believe they went to the bolt clearance passage method. Tom
Here's the diagram from the master parts book. You will see number 1.519 under the distributer in the exploded diagram. That is the oil feed to the 1.928 connector at the head (bottom diagram) This is clearly a 216 depicted, not a 235. Should be relevant to the topic. .
Yeah, that's it. I think that would be how the '50 is configured. I'd pull the side cover and disconnect that tube at the head connector, spin the oil pump with a variable speed drill motor and see if you get oil flow there. Also, I'm curious about that other 1.519 pipe just aft of the distribution plate. Again, I'm not sure on a '50 but it looks like that might be a filter bypass, does your engine have that pipe, and is it clear of obstructions?
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