1967 Family Patrol Project

[moore_rb]

Now, here's the big question, if I were to spray a bunch of carb cleaner (say, 10 ounces -- about 1/2 a bottle) down the galley and it does its job and breaks through, would I need to change the oil and flush out the galley before running the engine, or will enough of it evaporate or mix with the oil that I needn't worry about messing up bearings?

Thanks so much for the help! I really appreciate it!

John

My opinion is that you should plan to drain and change the oil regardless of what you do to clear the blockage (I like the idea of snaking a speedo cable around in there, that's a good idea)

And if you are going to change the oil anyway, then another suggestion I had would be to thin the oil down with a solvent (like a gallon of naptha or laquer thinner, and then run it thru the system by spinning the oil pump with the drill (CAUTION- do not run thinned oil through it with the starter- keep the cam and crank stationary , and drive the oil pump with your drill if you plan to try this technique.) after you have flushed everything with solvent, then drain it, re-fill with clean oil, and also run the clean oil through it with the drill before you attempt to start the engine.

[moore_rb]

And what about those cam bearings? did the machine shop replace them or not...??????


Also, Did they hot-tank the engine block?

[faux40]

'Morning all!

I'm following Ron's advice and using carb cleaner to "soften" the blockage (hopefully! ). I tried the speedo cable on the drill without any luck. It simply spun in the hole. I was hoping for some goo to be on the end of it like it was working... but it was clean when I pulled it out. Next I topped the hole off so I could see the carb cleaner at the top and then taped it with clear tape so I would be able to see if any disappeared. (Update -- It's been about an hour and the carb cleaner level is down about 1/2 mm... probably evaporating around the tape or, if I'm lucky, maybe squeezing past the blockage?)

oil_passage.jpg

My thought du jour is that it's blocked by a bolt. In particular, the rear, spark plug side, main bearing bolt. If my theory is correct that the bolt is too long (despite the parts book showing all the same... maybe they aren't actually?) it could cork the passage.

Imagine drilling straight down on that corner of the block top and coming out in the main bearing bolt hole. Then, cross drilling to the oil galley. If your main bolt is too long, it would block the cross drilled hole thereby completely stopping any oil heading upwards. Bad news because the pan will need to come off, but that's much, much better than the engine having to come out! (This would be a great outcome... )

The horizontal positions of the rear, spark plug side main bearing bolt and the oil passage hole on top

passage_vs_main_bolt_1.jpg

The vertical pathway of the projected oil route vs the cam

passage_vs_main_bolt_2.jpg

Rob -- Yes, new cam bearings were installed. The shop cabinet washed the block (e.g. giant dishwasher). I don't believe they hot tanked it.

Does anyone happen to have a short block laying around that they can check out for me? If you do, can you test a few things for me?

• Test if that rear most main bearing bolt hole connects to the oil galley heading to the top. A compressed air blast into the bolt hole should answer the question.
• Are all the main bearing cap bolts the same length? If not, is the bolt I suspect shorter?
• Try to figure out the route from the top of the block down to the galley (e.g. which way does the hole turn on its way down?).
• Where's the most likely place to get plugged?

Thanks everyone for helping out!

John

[Coyote Patrol]

I just checked my block. I also cannot blow air through it. The main bolts definitely will not interfere with the oil galley. I think Robert might be on to something with the cam bearings. I do not know this for sure, but it looks like the main oil galley goes to the rear cam bearing and then to the cylinder head. The hole from the top of the block goes straight down to the cam bearing 8" or so then it makes a lot of turns before it goes back to the main oil galley.

[Coyote Patrol]

I wasnt able to pull the camshaft out today, but im almost positive it feeds through the rear cam bearing before it goes up to the head.

[Esteban]

Very, very odd all this blockage.

I just checked 3 parts manuals and in all is just one part number for the crankshaft bearing cups bolts, so I will discard that possibility.

Do a by-pass as high qualified surgeons do.

Hurricane Engine side view.JPG

[Flaggoni]

2 cents more...
I'm also leaning toward the cam bearing area. It has been worked on. I'm intrigued that some oil did come thru on initial operation. (Though, like some others, I thought it looked meager) Something has changed, which makes me suspect the cam bearing.
Hurry up 2869ral, pull that cam outa yours. Solve this for us. Stay up all night if you need to.
Mild Bill

[Coyote Patrol]

2 cents more...
I'm also leaning toward the cam bearing area. It has been worked on. I'm intrigued that some oil did come thru on initial operation. (Though, like some others, I thought it looked meager) Something has changed, which makes me suspect the cam bearing.
Hurry up 2869ral, pull that cam outa yours. Solve this for us. Stay up all night if you need to.
Mild Bill

THANKS PAL!

[faux40]

Do a by-pass as high qualified surgeons do.

If it comes down to that... Drill baby, drill!

2 cents more...
I'm also leaning toward the cam bearing area. It has been worked on. I'm intrigued that some oil did come thru on initial operation. (Though, like some others, I thought it looked meager) Something has changed, which makes me suspect the cam bearing.
Hurry up 2869ral, pull that cam outa yours. Solve this for us. Stay up all night if you need to.
Mild Bill

I'm not so sure that anything has changed. The flow was barely there when it was last running, and then only on a couple rockers. Since there was so little run time, it could have been residual assembly oil. Or, it could have been that when the engine is warm, the oil is thinner and the pressure higher, a tiny bit actually makes it past the blockage. Here's the picture of what the rockers looked like after the engine had been running awhile -- in hindsight, it's pretty obvious that there's really no oil there:



To quote from one of the greatest movies of all time...

Never give up, never surrender!

(Who can name the reference?)

Thanks all!

John

[50car]

Uh.... was't that line used in Galaxt Quest?