fe oil restriction question

[wrench87]

my 445fe is finally going together, i have kc's stage 1 edelbrock heads with a hydraulic roller cam and smith bros push rods with out oil holes. what is every one using for oil restrictors in the heads the ones i have from precision pumps are 90's, my engine builder said they are to large he thought a 70 or 75 would be better?. looking for opinions

[Barry_R]

We've made up drop in .060s from aluminum stock.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by wrench87

my 445fe is finally going together, i have kc's stage 1 edelbrock heads with a hydraulic roller cam and smith bros push rods with out oil holes. what is every one using for oil restrictors in the heads the ones i have from precision pumps are 90's, my engine builder said they are to large he thought a 70 or 75 would be better?. looking for opinions

He may be right. Most of the guys running hydraulics on the FE Forum will have 90 or less. I run 60 with my solid. More than a few guys are running 70s with hydraulic rollers. You can start with 90, and if you find your oil consumption is high, or oil drips out of out pipes, go smaller. Personally, I would listen to the fella that built it.

[wrench87]

how do you go about making these plugs,can you buy material that is already threaded and just drill it?

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by wrench87

how do you go about making these plugs,can you buy material that is already threaded and just drill it?

You can't just drop the Holley jets in the Edelbrock heads; they won't fit. Different engine builders make screw in kits for them though -- Barry says he does, and I know Precision Oil Pumps makes them too. Gessford is another. This is not expensive either -- I'm thinking less than $20.

[undy]

I tapped the 2 oil feed holes in my Eboks with a 12-24 starting tap, about 5/16" deep (no need to pre-drill). I then line bored the center of a 12-24 brass machine screw lengthwise with a 1/16" (0.0625") drill bit. I cut about a 1/4" section of the of the line bored brass machine screw and then slotted the one end with a hacksaw to enable screw driver installation/removal later. Thread your bored screw sections into the heads until they bottom out and snug them down. I had everything I needed laying around the garage. The whole process took about 30 minutes.


0.0625" restrictors, hydraulic roller cam and Erson rockers. 8000 miles on that setup with zero problems.

[RICK LAKE]

wrench 87 What oil pump and pressure are you running? What rockers are you running? Running stock rockers The safe number is .070" with a HV oil pump and min of a #60 psi spring.
If you are running Ersons you need an .080" and a 80# spring for an HVHP oil pump. I have seen and done myself, blue the pivots when racing. The other thing is the valve springs need to be flooded with oil to remove the heat they make.
Make sure you are running 1 extra quart of oil in the motor either way. The returns are slow compared to some other motors.
I also have pushrod oiling in my motor with the hydro roller setup I am running.
Wrench I am from old school and running what the masters of the 60's ran. I do have an HVHP oil pump with 100# spring. The car does 98% of racing and a quick 2% on the street. It is better to have too much oil than not enough and burn up your motor. Been there done that, not on an FE.
The question above are important for the rockers. Ersons have needle bearings and need cool oiling. H&S, Dove and some of the others have bushing rockers or just aluminum riding on the shafts. In this case of aluminum rockers only, NO RESTRICTIONS. I have broken 2 rockers from Dove years ago with a .500" camshaft and 5,800 rpm limit.
.080" is a save number for 98% of all rockers and valve springs. T&D and Jesel setups have pushrod oiling and this is a whole different system. Rick L.

[wrench87]

rick, i have the erson rockers, a percision pumps hv pump doug provided different springs depending on what i need, i also have a canton road race oil pan with windage tray. so are 90's to big? will they fill the valve cover area with oil?. does any one know if kc opens up the oil returns on his stage 1 heads? this is my first fe so i dont know by looking at them.

[RICK LAKE]

Wrench87 My numbers are for racing with the 482 motor and same oiling system as you. Canton oil pan and scraper. Pan is overfilled 1.5 quarts of oil. Autocross and road racing cause oil returning issues. This is the reason I am going to dry sump setup.
Sound like a broken record but adding an accusump to the car and using it for startups and autocross has saved the motor from oil starvation on hard turns. 2 quart is ok, 3 quart is better. I am running a 3 quart. cheap safety for a $17,000.00 motor.
I am sure that KCR cleaned up the heads for the oil returns. Depending on which manifold you have,if the oil is over filled will drain back into the center of the motor through the pushrod holes and help lube the camshaft and lifters too. I see no down side to this except for a couple of HP being lost by oil hitting a rotating part. Rick L.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by wrench87

does any one know if kc opens up the oil returns on his stage 1 heads? this is my first fe so i dont know by looking at them.

If he touched your heads then the odds are pretty high that he opened up the oil returns. Here's a shot of mine that will help you. Do you see how the oil return hole has been reamed down? You don't need a fluid dynamics degree to see how oil will drain out that hole easier than just a plain 'ol flat hole. There are other oil mods as well. My gallery has an article that details them all.

[wrench87]

my problem is my machinist has had my motor so long i forgot what the parts look like. i have the smith bros push rods with no oil holes, also i have the arp bolts and the erson bolts for the rockers what do you reccomend i use?.

[Barry_R]

The restrictors I use are just pieces of aluminum stock turned to a "slip in" diameter, with a step to keep them from falling all the into the Edelbrock's oil feed hole. They have a drilled .060 hole through the center. Just slide them into place making sure that they are below the rocker stand pad and install your rocker system.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by wrench87

... I have the smith bros push rods with no oil holes, also i have the arp bolts and the erson bolts for the rockers what do you reccomend i use?.

Then use the Smith Bros. push rods, the ARP bolts and the Erson bolts. Seriously, 99% of the FEs that are on this forum do not have push rod oiling... and 99.99% of the FEs in the world don't have them. Plus, if you take the time to read the five thousand posts on the FE forum having to do with restrictor size, a lot of smart "old time" FE guys don't believe there's really that much of a difference between 60 and 90. Your Canton will hold plenty of oil, you're not going to burn up your needles in the Ersons, and you don't need more than 60 lbs. of oil pressure -- if that. Don't overstress, it'll be alright.

[Keithc8]

I agree with what is said above. I would use something in the .060 to .080 range. You should be fine with the combination that you are running.

Good luck, Keith Craft

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Then use the Smith Bros. push rods, the ARP bolts and the Erson bolts. Seriously, 99% of the FEs that are on this forum do not have push rod oiling... and 99.99% of the FEs in the world don't have them.

If your FE block has lifter oil galleries, I think you can get lifters with oil feeding ports in the lifter cup, run hollow pushrods, and get oiling to the cups at the top of the pushrods.

[Barry_R]

Finally got around to getting a picture of my restrictors for Edelbrock heads posted up. You can see that they're pretty simple...they come round and you can file a flat across the top edge as shown if your rocker pedestals touch it - Edelbrock does not chamfer all the openings consistantly the same depth...

http://store.survivalmotorsports.com/oilreforedhe.html

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Barry_R

Finally got around to getting a picture of my restrictors for Edelbrock heads posted up.

.060, twenty bucks, and you can't even put them in upside down. Now that's a deal.