Another question. Seems someone removed 7 of the 12 felt wicks. No idea how long the engine was run without them but there appears to be no damage caused buy their removal. I’m thinking that oil going down the tube would be able to leak some into the push rod cup and the rest would come out the end and splash around a bunch. Thoughts???
Hi,
As far as I understand how it works it may result in excessive oil in the valve guides and/or too little oil at the end of the rocker shaft, that it the no 6 cylinder and valves 11 and 12.
On mine a few were completely blocked and I do not know if that resulted in the cyl ne. 4 exh. valve getting stuck, broken off and destroying the cylinder wall → complete engine rebuild, another thread about it: 3 1/2 Litre engine part recommendations.
Cheers!
The oil supply to the rocker comes from inside the rocker shaft through a small hole which is aligned for the correct rocker offset and feeds the rocker bushes via a 0.003" flat on the rocker shaft (not all reproductions use the original design). The rocker feeds the valve and the pushrod. The valve end has a felt wick internal and is sealed on the end with solder. I use a short brass rod piece to make the solder application a little easier. The solder seal and the wick help regulate the oil supply to the valve.
The pushrod end has no wick.
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You’re correct, no wick at that end of the rocker. Curious that someone in the past removed more than half of them.
Maybe some of yours just fell out. As I recall a few of mine were missing. The factory soldering job wasn’t all that good.
I also used a 1/8" diameter brass rod and engineer’s felt when I did mine. I think I got the engineer’s felt in 1/8" diameter from McMaster-Carr.
Most of my rockers were completely blocked, and the rocker shaft was also very worn. When I rebuilt the engine, the tiny oil passages to the pushrod ball were so full of hard gunk I had to use a tiny drill to clear them. The rocker arm pads were also badly worn. We removed the felt wicks completely. The replacement rocker shaft finally arrived, and on re-assembly and first start of the engine, there was NO oil flow. Closer inspection revealed the new rocker shaft oil holes didnt line up with the rocker arm oil grooves. Oil flow was high once we rectified the new rocker shaft holes. To limit the oil flow, we fitted a restrictor in the oil feed pipe between the block and the head. All 12 rockers now receive adequate lubrication and there is quite a bit of oil splashing around to ensure that the various parts dont suffer from excessive wear.
Rob,
I bought a couple feet of the 1/8” wick. I haven’t tried yet but how hard is it to get the wick into the rocker arm? Does it go all the way up of only partially?
My current problem is that I now can’t find the timing chain cover. The machine shop and I are discussing whom had it last. Just one more delay.
So now I get to work on my 1930 GarWood speedboat until I find the cover. There’s always something to work on here!
JagGuim,
Same question. How long were the wicks?
I measure the depth of the 1/8" hole at about 1-1/4" and you want to allow some depth for the brass plug, so I wouldn’t go over 1" long on the wicks.
Be sure to stick a drill bit in there and clean out the crud in the passages, but be sure not to cut into the brass sleeve bushing, which you’ll notice has a smaller hole.
Don’t pack the wicks in tight, they need to be able to breathe, to allow oil flow.
Solder in the brass plugs with the rockers separate, not on the shaft.
I found that too much heat on the rocker caused the nearby spring to relax.
I made the plugs about 1/4" long with some hanging out so the next caretaker will have an easier time getting them out.
We talked about these in 2008.
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Great….I’ve taken great care gapping all the valves! Now I’m hearing that I need to remove the rocker unit and disassemble it. Boo!
Oh well, it’s just time.
Thanks for the reply and heads up.
It’s a piece of cake or a walk in the park. 
Much, much easier than having the block sleeved because an exhaust valve dropped the disc and went through a cylinder wall! 
YMMV.
Cheers!
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