flow restricters on a 390

[dmraymond]

I put a 390 in my 57 , it has a high volume oil pump in it, now it tends to smoke a little  and thats agravating when all is new .  Now I'm told to use flow restrictors I have no idea where to put them ,or even what they are tI am told .his is a common problem with a 390 .  Does any one have a part number or anything on this, and where do they go?  would appreciate any help.    thanks   57ford

[Frankenstein57]

I raced 57s in the mid 1970s, I ran medium riser 427s. To keep the oil down by the crank with the high volume oil pumps, we would restrict oil to the rocker arm shafts. If you remove the shaft one of the middle stud holes is dished out, this is where the oil flows up to the rockers. We would simply tap in a short piese of copper tubing, I don't recall the size, then we would screw in a carb jet. This gave us a nice gentle oil flow to the rockers, never burned up a bottom end. you'll see the oil gallery coming in on the side of the dished cup. If you try this I would experiment with the tubing and jets prior to putting it in your motor, then no chips or shavings get in. The rocker shaft stands hold the parts in place. I would start with a large jet , and work down to what you want. We could run the engine with the covers off , and not get oil all over. Remember to remove all rocker shaft bolts evenly, you can crack the shafts if you don't--good luck,  Mark

[shopratwoody]

I also raced FE's until the early 90's. I chose not to restrict the oil to tne shafts and definetly did not have any
problem with smoke. Always HV pumps etc. Enlarged some oil passages that were recommended. You may
have valve stem seals letting the oil run down the stem at low speeds. Normally that clears up with RPM's.
Hopefully that will correct it. There's several things that can cause smoke, hope it's nothing serious. It's not
the oil pump.
good luck, Ron

[dmraymond]

I appreciate all your help, both of you .It doesn't smoke all the time, whether at idle or at rpms. When I get on it , it seams that the oil is all in the heads , pressure is way low, let up on it pressure comes right back. I am inclined to think that restricting the flow to heads is the answer, the motor is brand new.Could the seals be bad? the plugs look good, not fowled at all.   when it does smoke sometimes it's a little, sometimes a litte worse, but at any time it's not smoking real bad, just irratating . hope this will shed a little more light on problem, again thanks for your help.     57 ford

[JimNolan]

57Ford,
    I rebuilt my 390 in my 57 a few years back. Used a HV oil pump. I could empty the oil pan by using a hand drill and oil pump rod. I found that all the oil was in top of my heads. No one on the Ford Trucks Enthusiasts forum could help. They recommended the oil plugs like you're talking about. So, I made them but didn't put them in.
   I remembered when I installed the new rocker shafts there were two holes in the shaft for each rocker assembley. One large hole and one small hole. What I had done is installed the rocker shafts backwards. This was causing the oil to continually flow through the rocker assembley. It's not supposed to flow continually, only on a certain portion of the rocker movement.
   I was informed that unless I expected to see 6500 rpm on a regular basis, don't install the restrictors. The racers I conversed with seemed knowledgable. Some for restrictors, others against.
  Just make sure your shafts aren't installed backwards.
Jim

[Ford Blue blood]

Jim is correct and to add to his thoughts make sure the sheet metal guides are under th rocker stands .  They really help getting the oil to the lower portion of the head and keep it off the springs, stem and seals.  When building FE series engine I always enlarged every oil passage possible to maximize flow the the crank, enlarged the drain back holes in the heads in addition to painting the cast surfaces with Glyptal.  Never had a problem with oil in the upper end.

[dmraymond]

So Jim am to understand that I have the rockers on the wrong heads and should swap them?  I sure hope so, I was almost tempted to put in stock pump again.  thanks     57ford

[custom300fe]

I think when Jim said backwards what he meant is upside down. Most shafts have a notch at one end. When installed the notch should be on the bottom and at the front when on the right bank (passanger side) and on the bottom at the rear on the left bank (drivers side). If there are no notches make sure the the oiling holes are at the bottom of the shaft when installed. If you have shafts with holes on both sides put the larger holes on the bottom.
Gerry

[JimNolan]

dmraymond,
     Gerry is correct, but after reading the posts the best thing you can do is read the overhaul manual on installing the rocker shaft assembley. ( The part I didn't think I needed to read because I thought I was smart enough to figure it out on my own. )
     The rocker shaft is a tube, it's filled with oil under pressure. Oil comes thru the block to one specific rocker assembley mount, there's a hole in the rocker shaft at this location. That's where oil enters the shaft and where they are talking about putting the restictor ( in the block ).
     There are holes in the shaft (tube) to oil each rocker assembley. There's a hole in the rocker that carrys oil to the push rod. These two holes need to be matched to a specific location. If the holes are aligned wrong you can get oil flow all the time thru the rocker to the push rods causing oil starvation in the bottom end. Pray that you have the notches on the end of the shaft to indicate how to install it ( mine didn't ). Just remove the valve cover and look.
     I'm sorry I've taken up this much space on a problem that you probley don't have anyway. If the engine is new, give it time. It takes a little time for everything ( rings, etc ) to seat in. I had everything in my engine replaced with the best looking cylinder crosshatch you'd ever see with new valves and guides in the heads and I still burn a quart of oil every 1200 miles. When the engine was just rebuilt it was 600 miles. The plugs always look great, it runs like a scalled ape so go figure.
Good luck
Jim
   
     

[dmraymond]

Jim, don't be sorry, I appreciate your input, and thats what is important. A nother set of ideas never hurt anyone. thanks for your and every one elses input. With that knolege I an sure I can solve the problem.   thanks again   57ford

[dmraymond]

Don't mean to dwell, but you guys solved the problem. the shafts were backwards. thanks again to all.   57ford