[DeTomaso] cleveland oiling

[JDeRyke at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/5/08 5:11:09 AM, justingreisberg at hotmail.com writes:
I am about to give my short block to the machine shop.  I am making a serious 
street rebuild, and am confused about the best oiling mods.

> 1. I plan to put the moroso oil restrictors in.  Should I leave out number 
> 1 so as not to minimize oil to distributor gear??
> 
> 2. I plan to leave out restrictor to lifter valley since I will be using 
> hydraulic roller lifters/
> 
> 3. I will add external oil line because it is so easy to do.
> 
> 4.  I will use full grooved main bearings to optimize oil.
> 
Everyone has opinions on this (many from librarians who have never built an 
engine, let alone a 351C) so here's mine:
1)- yes. I also suggest running a proper-sized drill up ALL the cam oil 
passages to see if there's a varnish buildup. The passage is restricted by the cam 
bearing, and varnish builds up there, sometimes plugging the line completely. 
Hot-tank cleaning will not remove this varnish, nor will an engine brush. Be 
careful to not damage the cam bearings while doing this. 
Second possibility: do use the #1 cam bearing restrictor, and have your shop 
drill a 0.030" hole in the oil gallery plug directly behind the 
distributor/cam gear mesh. This plug is at the extreme end of a really convoluted   oiling 
system, so it won't impact your oil pressure, and will better oil those gears. 
2)- using that restrictor will cause a 'click' with that side's   8 hydraulic 
lifters, that goes away above idle speeds. My engine, using fast-bleed 
hydraulics on an SVO hydraulic cam, has been in for 18 years with no visible damage 
to anything. Tell people you have a solid lifter cam, which is what it sounds 
like.
3)- anyone who's owned a '50s -'60s British motorcycle knows that external 
oil lines always cause trouble, sometimes to the point of destroying an engine. 
They flex and crack, fittings break, aeroquip or rubber lines sag more than 
you'd believe possible to burn against headers- the list of failure modes is 
notable. Second, this mod supplies more oil to the rear of the block by 
extracting it from the front.... and most rod failures occur in the front half of a 
351C. I suggest not doing this.
4)- grooved bearings won't hurt in your street engine, but do cut down the 
bearing surface, so theoretically are not as good.   FWIW, if you must modify 
the Cleveland oiling system beyond adding cam oil restrictors, have your iron 
crank cross-drilled by a professional shop. Turbo-Buicks, Boss 302s, Boss 429s 
and other performance engines all had crossdrilled cranks as-stock. The Boss 
351 didn't. Many steel racing cranks are supplied crossdrilled. Crossdrilling 
reduces the time each rod bearing is NOT being supplied oil under pressure, by 
creating a second passage to each bearing which will feed half the available 
oil for twice as long as an unmodified crank. This distributes the oil across 
the bearing more evenly. Very good for higher rpms or for high loads. Good luck- 
J DeRyke


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