Harland Sharp oiling issue?

[evilmopar]

Don’t know if o have a problem with oiling thru my harlandsharp rockers. When i have the engine running it only flows oil thru the oil hole that should lube the pushrods. Should it flow or shoot oil from the holes?

After having the car on idle until engine reached opertaing temperature the pushrod cups was about 160F. I have already burnt two sets of pushrods, and found that the cambearing was shot. Have replaced it and i have alot more oiling to the heads, but it’s hard to find any info on how much oil there should be flowing thru the holes in the rockers.

 

[Dan64]

Best thing to do is to give them a call. They are one of the rare companies that you can talk to someone who knows what their talking about, I've found them to have great customer service from that standpoint.

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

What oil system are you using and what oil. How does that rocker oil??

 

[ckessel]

Totally different engine combo but basic info may be viable. In the mid 80's I put together a stroker small block with W2 heads. Used the shafts, bushed rockers, diy pushrod package they, DC, supplied. Shafts I actually got from Ed Hamburger back when he was strictly Mopar. Got the engine running. Within 50 miles I killed half a set of rockers and pushrods due to lack of oiling. WTF! I got some info from one of the gents responsible for the W2 program. He said that they found in early testing that someone read the prints wrong for making the shafts. DC/Mopar was supposed to fix the issue but never did. The only way those rockers would get oil to the valve tips and pushrods were if they were 180* to the head so the oil holes would match up. Simple fix on the shafts after that discovery was to grind grooves from the existing holes to where they needed to be. Lucky for me, Lee Muir[ the head designer along with Petty] had extras of the bushed rockers and pushrods of needed length.

 

[PRHeads]

I’ve used HS rockers on several mopars thru the years.
Never had any burned adjusters or pushrods, so I never really had a reason to watch the oiling “as it happens”, so I can’t tell you how much is normally coming out of the hole and where it’s going.

If you’re watching it live and it’s not giving you a warm n fuzzy feeling, I’d start with this test-

After running the engine for a few minutes(5-ish), shut it down and pull a couple of adjusters out(I’d do front ones) and look in the pushrod cup to see if it’s wet with oil or not.
If it’s wet with oil you’re probably good.

 

[GTX JOHN]

If you pushrod length is incorrect the rocker will NOT oil properly.

 

[Geoff 2]

How is that John?

 

[evilmopar]

What oil system are you using and what oil. How does that rocker oil??

stock oiling thru cam bearings no fulltime oilng, holes in bearing mathes holes in the block. TF240 heads. When i hade the shaft off and primed the engine it shot oil thru the oiling hole in the head to the front fender of the car, so there is oil coming. Oil is a 20W-50. But when i burned the pushrods i ran a 10W-30. Maybe should go back to the 10W-30 oil.

 

[evilmopar]

If you pushrod length is incorrect the rocker will NOT oil properly.

Yes i now. They are correct now.

 

[evilmopar]

Best thing to do is to give them a call. They are one of the rare companies that you can talk to someone who knows what their talking about, I've found them to have great customer service from that standpoint.

Problem is the i live in Sweden.

 

[moparman400]

why not just use a oil pump primer , slowly hand turn the engine over and watch your rockers and shafts how they oil ?

 

[Rick62]

Rocker shafts upside down?

 

[gkent]

it only flows oil thru the oil hole that should lube the pushrods.

There is no other oil hole !! What is your expectation ??

 

[GTX JOHN]

How is that John?

Most adjusters have a recessed area in the middle for oil to flow to rockers. If
not lined up the oiling will be very restricted.

Mopar recommended .250 to .280 measurement with the adjusters that have
a ball on the end as I recall in the old racing manuals.

Most of the newer adjusters with a ball ends, the manufacturers have told me
about 1/2 turns to 1 3/4 turns from bottom all the way into the rockers.

At least, that is my understanding.

 

[Krooser]

Problem is the i live in Sweden.

The telephones work in both countries and your english may be better than the person who answers at HS!

Email is another way to contact them.

Hope you get it sorted out.

 

[gkent]

Should it flow or shoot oil from the holes?

I've re-read your post because I couldn't initially figure out what you're asking. But I think you're trying to determine whether the oil should shoot out with pressure in a stream as opposed to simply "flow".

Let's first discuss the rockers themselves. HS rockers, compared to other brands, are "leakers". They wil lose a lot of oil past the roller bearings and this means less pressure in the rocker and less pressure directed anywhere else. This is quite likely why they're the only rocker on the market that doesn't have an oil hole to lubricate the valvesprings!

Next issue is the aftermarket shafts. All of them have 8 extra oil holes on the top side of the shafts. Why the hell anyone thought they need oil flowing out the top of the shafts is beyond me, this just lowers the pressure in the shafts !! And as a side note, the shafts cannot be installed wrong - the holes are on both sides and are on the same plane as the bolt holes.

Also worth mentioning is "grooved shafts". You do NOT want grooved shafts with HS rockers. Grooved shafts are fine for bushed or similar shafts but not for rockers with roller bearings. Roller bearings need a full smooth surface to ride on. And grooved shafts would just bleed off even more of what little pressure there is.

Next is the oiling to the heads. With HS rockers full time oiling is (in my opinion) an absolute must - its the only way to get enough pressure up there to make the rockers "squirt" !! The oil flow is fine for the rollers, they don't need much at all but the pressure is an absolute must to get oil to the pushrods. The alternative is to switch to oiling THROUGH the pushrods - which may require new lifters with that capability.

Lastly, you will not see a rocker "squirt" the pushrod if you only prime the pump or run the motor at idle. You need more rpm to increase the pressure to the level that will get them to squirt.

 

[451Mopar]

I think the HS rockers have ball adjusters and use cup pushrods? With the ball adjuster, the oil hole is usually near the adjuster threads and sprays on the outside of the adjuster.
The Cup type adjusters that use ball end pushrods oil through the adjuster to where there is a limited amount of adjustment where oil will flow. too far out of adjustment will cut off the oil to the adjuster cup.

You might check the rocker shafts to see if one side of the hold-down bolt hole where the oil comes from the rocker stand is drilled larger diameter to allow more oil around the hold-down bolt/stud?
My engine is using a HV oil pump, so oil pressure is usually pretty good, like 40 PSI hot, and just using the standard through the cam oiling. Haven't had issues with the HS rockers on the 505" stroker? I did check the rocker oiling because the prior different brand rockers did burn up the pushrod ends.

 

[evilmopar]

why not just use a oil pump primer , slowly hand turn the engine over and watch your rockers and shafts how they oil ?

I’ve done that. The problem is how much oil should it come out of the oiling holes in the rockers?

 

[evilmopar]

I think the HS rockers have ball adjusters and use cup pushrods? With the ball adjuster, the oil hole is usually near the adjuster threads and sprays on the outside of the adjuster.
The Cup type adjusters that use ball end pushrods oil through the adjuster to where there is a limited amount of adjustment where oil will flow. too far out of adjustment will cut off the oil to the adjuster cup.

You might check the rocker shafts to see if one side of the hold-down bolt hole where the oil comes from the rocker stand is drilled larger diameter to allow more oil around the hold-down bolt/stud?
My engine is using a HV oil pump, so oil pressure is usually pretty good, like 40 PSI hot, and just using the standard through the cam oiling. Haven't had issues with the HS rockers on the 505" stroker? I did check the rocker oiling because the prior different brand rockers did burn up the pushrod ends.

I just wanna know how much oil should come out thru the hole in the rockers? Now it flows oil, but should it flow or shoot oil? Yes i have cup style pusrods and i have about 1,5-2 threads out on the adjusters. I have 75psi cold and 55-60psi hot in oil pressure.

 

[evilmopar]

I've re-read your post because I couldn't initially figure out what you're asking. But I think you're trying to determine whether the oil should shoot out with pressure in a stream as opposed to simply "flow".

Let's first discuss the rockers themselves. HS rockers, compared to other brands, are "leakers". They wil lose a lot of oil past the roller bearings and this means less pressure in the rocker and less pressure directed anywhere else. This is quite likely why they're the only rocker on the market that doesn't have an oil hole to lubricate the valvesprings!

Next issue is the aftermarket shafts. All of them have 8 extra oil holes on the top side of the shafts. Why the hell anyone thought they need oil flowing out the top of the shafts is beyond me, this just lowers the pressure in the shafts !! And as a side note, the shafts cannot be installed wrong - the holes are on both sides and are on the same plane as the bolt holes.

Also worth mentioning is "grooved shafts". You do NOT want grooved shafts with HS rockers. Grooved shafts are fine for bushed or similar shafts but not for rockers with roller bearings. Roller bearings need a full smooth surface to ride on. And grooved shafts would just bleed off even more of what little pressure there is.

Next is the oiling to the heads. With HS rockers full time oiling is (in my opinion) an absolute must - its the only way to get enough pressure up there to make the rockers "squirt" !! The oil flow is fine for the rollers, they don't need much at all but the pressure is an absolute must to get oil to the pushrods. The alternative is to switch to oiling THROUGH the pushrods - which may require new lifters with that capability.

Lastly, you will not see a rocker "squirt" the pushrod if you only prime the pump or run the motor at idle. You need more rpm to increase the pressure to the level that will get them to squirt.

Thank you! Just what i wanted to hear! I will convert to oil thru pushrods this winter and use a ball/ball pushrod. Down side with full time oiling is the restrictors you have to use. I’m working on a solution to do that without needing to lift the heads to change restrictors or lift the intake. I had some valvecovers cut open on the pushrod side to see whats going on. And it’s hard to say with everything moving so fast . But it looked like the it was mor squirting oil. I wil have the enging running a bit and the take out a adjuster and see how lubed it is.