Larry J

The L38 radiator was in really bad shape with a hole in the lower tank and who knows what else. It is in the shop to see if it is salvageable. I have the 6 cylinder F38 radiator on it now. It’s watertight but not in very good shape either as the bottom strap is rusted out. update - the radiator is not salvageable as it has numerous stress cracks in the tank. The radiator shop is looking for a copper and brass replacement but no luck so far. May have to go with an aluminum one.

The Olds 257 is running. After pulling the head and pan and checking everything but the ring gap I concluded that as a new rebuild and tight it was heating up much faster than I would have imagined without coolant. So I installed a radiator, overfilled the crankcase by a quart, and pressure fed oil to the valve area and timing chain. Just got the starter back from the rebuild shop and it started right up and I think is going to be ok.

I’m all for saving a step if it’s not necessary. I bought a 3/8 inch countersink bit yesterday but in checking the guides in my spare engine they were replaced at some time and they are not counterbored. I have a oil pump rebuild kit on the way and plan to oil up the valve boxes good, overfill the oil pan, and run it for short time - then let it cool down and run it a little longer - cool down and repeat to see if it will break in. If it still binds up I’ll have to find out where.

I confirmed that there is no pressure feed at the valve stems, guides, or lifters. Oil is splashed. I went back and reread the shop manual and it says the intake guides are straight on the inside diameter but the exhaust guide is counterbored on the inside diameter for 3/8” at the top to minimize valve sticking. When purchasing replacement guides from egge you can’t designate intake or exhaust so I read that as needing to counterbore the exhaust guides which I planned to do with a tapered drill. If that doesn’t make sense I ‘m open to any guidance. The last time a had an engine apart was over 50 years ago in a high school shop class.

Tore into the spare engine today to see if I could understand the oil flow. Ran a wire through every hole I could find and talked to my cousins husband who is an automotive engineer. From everything I can find it appears there is no pressurized oil at the valve guides, stems or lifters. The oil is splashed from a spit hole in the rod on to the lifters- from there there is no logical way that the oil is splashed into the valve area but I know it’s oiled from all the crud in there unless the mushroom lifters push it up. I did find out the spare engine has shims in some of the bearings, the crank needs rebuilt and the cylinders need to be bored out. One may need a sleeve. I also noted that when replacing the valve guides you need to use a 3/8 tapered drill on the exhaust valve guides to keep them from sticking. That may be one issue I need to check as I doubt the rebuilder was aware of that. Next step is to send off the oil pump to be rebuilt - just so I can rule that out.

After a period of temporary loss of interest and a visit from the kids and grandkids I got back to work on the 38. Put oil through the galley at 50 pounds of pressure but still no visible oil at the valves. Pulled the pan, manifold and head. There is some fine grit in the pan and the valve guides are bone dry. Fortunately the cylinder walls look good. From what I can tell from the oil flow diagram in the shop manual the oil flows from the cam bearings to the valve guides. Going to pull the cam again.

I just ordered a pre-oiler pressure tank. I decided the first thing to do is put oil through the system under a higher pressure to see if it appears at the valves. I have pressurized it before using a new pump up garden sprayer and that got oil to the cam bearings. If I can’t get oil to the valves I will start disassembly. The tank should be here around the middle of the month. I can’t help but think if I had been a little more patient and a lot more astute things might have gone better.

I haven’t forgotten about your part Gary - still looking around the barn. Pulled the starter off the 6 cyl parts car today and bolted it on. Engine started right up with 25 pounds of oil pressure but something is still not right. After a short time it began to labor and being afraid it would seize up I shut it off. It was not running long enough to overheat. I know that oil is getting as far as the cam bearings but I’m still not seeing any oil with the valve covers off. Back to the drawing board. I’ll pull the pan and head again this week hopefully and pray I didn’t do too much damage.

Finally getting back to this after a short hospital stint and cataract surgery on both eyes put me behind a couple of months. Engine is in and oil pan is on. - pump is packed with Vaseline but I’m not getting anything out of the starter. I’ll have to pull it off tomorrow and try to figure out why it’s not working. Suspect it will have to be rebuilt.. I’ve got two others that I need to clean up and give them a try.

The oil galley has a plug in it now - my bad. Had to order new flywheel bolts and nuts today. But soon!

No plug - just an open 1/2 inch hole closed by the seal against the bell housing - I probably should have a plug in it

Everything is safety wired. Pulled the cam out and pressured oil through the manifold. Plenty of oil at the cam bearings. I’m thinking maybe I had a bad seal between the bell housing and the open end of the oil manifold. Who knows - but it’s going back together

Pistons are all back in the right order. Cam bearings don’t look all that bad. Put compressed air through oil manifold and confirmed the cam bearings were properly aligned. Didn’t pull mains but put air through rod journals. Picked up safety wire and pliers tonight for the rods. I will put oil into the manifold under pressure next to see where it ends up. If all goes well I’m going to put it back together with a new oil pump and see what happens.

I believe the cam bearings are fed directly from the oil manifold after closer inspection. I have the 2,3,4,5,and 8 pistons out to put them in the right rod order. The bearings all look good and the cylinder walls are getting oil. Need to pick up a ring compressor at the parts store.

Got the engine off the floor ready to pull the head

The 38 is similar in the the oil pump first supplies the mains and the rod bearings then the wrist pins, cylinders, and cam bearings. In the short time it ran I did not see any oil dripping in the valve area with the covers off. With the engine out and upside down the crank appears to have been getting oil. If I run my finger around the cam bearing openings it comes out black and a little gritty. I’m thinking the oil holes are not aligned properly.

Yeah I agree - I think the bearing material is from the cam bearings though. If I get real motivated I will pull the head and cam tomorrow. It shouldn’t be a big deal to put the rods and pistons in the right order. I am suspecting that the cam bearings may be improperly installed.

How critical is it that the rods are reinstalled in the original position? I had the rod journals reground 10 under with new bearings. Pulled number 3 and 4 rod bearing caps and the bearings look ok. Ran wire through the oil hole and spit with no blockage but I noticed the rods are marked 1 through 8 and mine are installed 13482675. The engine rebuilder apparently didn’t catch that. I looks like the rods and mains are getting oil but it’s not getting to the upper part of the engine.

Engine is out - might go exploring tomorrow but this week for sure.

Well it’s back to the drawing board - I found some reall fine bearing material in the oil - enough to discolor the oil so….I pulled the pan but can’t really tell anything from laying on my back with a stoplight. Pulling the engine today where I can get it on a bench and start taking things out to identify the problem.

Thanks Bloo - everything is turning and no plugs in the crank end to come out. Disconnected the oil filter and bled the line to the mechanical pressure gauge. Pump is full if oil and valve is not stuck. Used a gravity feed funnel for gas line and with a little help it started right up. Oil pressure went to 25 then it ran out of gas. I’m still not sure it is getting oil everywhere it needs to be. Had the valve covers off so it was pretty noisy but i didn’t see any oil dripping.

Spent most of the day working on the oil pressure issue with no real resolution. Tried the vasoline treatment but that didn’t work. Pulled the pump and put a gallon of oil under pressure into the line at the pump opening. Cleaned the pump up and reinstalled. Still no pressure. So I reinstalled the plugs and kicked it over with some starter fluid. It fired a few times and when it did the oil pressure needle bounced. Still pondering what to do.

Mike - Honestly I don’t remember why I put 2x4s under the a arms. That was a long time ago. I know the bumpers need to be replaced and I know I put them there when I took the engine out. Just haven’t gotten around to removing them. Put a carb kit in today but did not get to the oil pump issue. The nice thing about being retired is that nothing has to be done today 😎

Thanks I’ll try that - have to take the wife to the doctor today but it’s on my list for tomorrow

Anyone have experience priming an oil pump on a flathead? The starter turns the engine over but no oil pressure. I hesitate to turn it too much til I get that figured out. I have the pressure side connected to the bottom of the bypass oil filter with the return dumping back into the sump. I think that is right as I don’t see any other way to connect it.