Jeff95TA

Been trying to figure out the knock I'm getting since I first fired up my new 383. I could hear some rapping so I pulled the valve covers and started the engine. I don't see any oil coming out of the pushrods. I only ran it at approximately idle speed. Should I see visible oil at this engine speed?

I'm almost certain I saw oil come out when I primed the pump.

seawolf06

I only had oil come out the top of the pushrod when I loosened the rockers while I was adjusting lash, not when they were all tight.

Daniel6718

yea youll have to give it a rev...bring it to 2500...should get opil out of a few...if you dont you might not have oil pressure..pull the oil sending unit and have a friend start it quick...oil shouold come out very hard

ibanez6rg

It should take a second for the oil to get up there, but you should see oil flowing along the bottom of the heads (oil that came up through the push rods).

ChevyTuffD.A.

Oil should be coming up from the push rods while the engine is at idle, I know mine does. What is your oil pressure guage reading?

Jeff95TA

Oil pressure is about 60 psi (sometimes higher) at cold start. Seems high?

SStrokerAce

Nah that's not too high. What weight of oil? What oil pump and relief spring?

Jeff95TA

10W30, Melling HV, stock spring

I think I'll put a little oil on the valvetrain by hand (just in case) and let it run longer to see what happens.

I was actually trying to figure out what the noise was I was hearing (piston slap? rocker arm hitting?) and the no oil flow got me a little worried!

dhirocz

If you arent cutting up pushrods and rocker arms you should be ok. I noticed some motors seep oil from the tops of the pushrods when idling, some dont. But revving it with the valve covers off is a good way to get an oil bath lol!

I prefer seeing oil while idling. That way I dont have to worry if the top end is getting enough oil during extended idle periods. IMO if u dont get at least a little dribble at idle, u need to check it and fix it.

I had a motor a few years ago from a friend of mine who always complained that his guideplates and pushrods were getting chewed up. Turns out he was getting no oil to the top of the motor...tearing it up basically. My guess is one of his oil gallery plugs blew out.

The knock you're referring to...its possible it might be from the bottom end. The sound travels upwards. Did you have at least .030" clearance everywhere in the bottom end when it was put together? (at least a credit card's thickness)

bowtiepwr

>I use a piece of cardboard to stop the oil from splashing on the headers w/ valve cover off.
just ensure that you have correct valve lash (zero with 1/4 turn) and not over tightened.

Jeff95TA

Not sure about the clearance, VRE built it for me.

I think I'll reset the lash before starting it again just to be sure. I started with close to 1/2 turn.

Whatever the noise is I believe it's enough that I'm picking up false (hopefully!) knock. I'm getting some high knock counts and spark retard even at idle sometimes. I drained the tank and put some 104 in it to hopefully figure it out but haven't been able to run it long enough to see.

And then there's the issue with it not wnating to idle too... but that's a problem for another thread once I get through all of this!

SStrokerAce

Your never going to get much over that 60psi with that setup, the relief spring will not let you.

Bret

HardcoreRM125

You also wont see much oil at idle with ProMags and HiTech pushrods. WIth my stockers I could see a good bit of oil. Not with these ones. I read somewhere something about this being common with ProMags.

GetaZforgetGT

Stock oil pan or aftermarket pan?

I know I had a rod bolt that was just touching the pan and made a funny knocking sound when it touched the pan. I very minor clearance job fixed that but it took a few hours to get the pan out and then button it up once the clearancing was done.

bowtiepwr

>and a little hammer massage too