Mossy66

Yes, but the oil flows around a groove in the bottom of the distributor on the way to the lifter gallery on the passenger side of the engine.
Most Chevy distributors have a full groove. Yours may have a partial groove.

Smilie 388

I remember changing the cam in an early 396 and had to have a groove machined in the rear journal of the new cam .

steve meltzer

well, this much engineering detail has left my small brain in the dust. I'm still trying to digest the fact that the builder screwed up...I have no issue with that, but I'm gonna have to eat all of his error. This degree of responsibility is very unlike the practice of medicine, where one could be responsible for things seemingly foreign to the original miscue. I've been involved in two other major screw ups (one involving a Ferrari radiator and one involving a Kirkham Cobra) and in both instances the mechanic, at a cost of about $2K to fix their mistake, did just that, in addition to the repair itself. s

Westlotorn

Please don't start with comparing medicine to Auto Parts, you are getting off cheap in that one. My son had chest surgery, they had to re-do it 3 times, he was down for almost 2 years in recovery and we paid for each one with a lot of insurance company help.
Did I meantion that they got $85,000 for each Practice run. The good news is that he is alive and thriving two years later and now wants to be a Doctor.
You may have a case where the machine shop will help a little more if the cause is very obvious to be a machine shop error. You will not know till it is torn down and proven or not. Good Luck

JohnZ

Some early big-blocks used a distributor housing that only had a partial annulus between the spools, and that annulus would only direct oil to both lifter galleries if the distributor was properly oriented in the block (same goofy design they used on the '55-'56 small-block distributors). Shortly thereafter, ALL big-block distributors used the same housing as the small-blocks (with a full 360* annulus) so the orientation of the distributor didn't matter and couldn't affect lifter oiling.

The housing in the left side of the photo has the early partial annulus, and the one on the right has the full 360* annulus. Which type of distributor do you have?

Mossy66

Would anyone know how far out of proper orientation it would take to block the oil flow? I would think that if the distributor was turned far enough to block oil flow, you couldn't get the vacuum advance pointed forward.

Gerry

MikeM

Tach cable probably wouldn't hook up either.

On a 265, it would probably be 30*. Don't know about the BB's.

steve meltzer

I don't think this is a distributor problem. The distributor can goes in the only place it can (hmmm.....there's a can can joke in there somewhere) and I'm still betting on a bad cam bearing or plugged oil galley.

To the issue of medical complications. I'm truly sorry about your son, Westlotorn. Complications in the practice of medicine are not, unfortunately, uncommon and some are really terrible (like your son's). In my practice, no matter what the complication or perceived complication is, my fault or "the nature of the beast", we never bill the patient. We do bill the insurance company for any work I do. However, WE NEVER, EVER collect a co-pay or additional payments from the patient. If the patient has no insurance, we render whatever care is appropriate at no charge. We just eat that cost. It's common for me to perform minor procedures on patients without coverage and collect nothing. It was never my intention to take a cheap shot at anything. s

Westlotorn

Please, I don't mean for anyone to feel bad, my son if fine, after all the medical he made All American in 6 events in swimming at the college level. He really is fine and doing great.
I just had to laugh because so many shop owners have said they always have to warranty things that are not their fault and that they wish they could be like Doctors and bill for everything. Thanks for being a Doctor, we all need them from time to time and it is a very hard profession that takes total dedication. I tried hard to talk my son out of a medical pursuit because I wanted him to have a career that offered more time for family life, I lost that discussion. I hope your answer shows up soon. Keep us posted.

steve meltzer

I'm sorry it's taken awhile to post the final resolution here, but I was OOT and it took some time to make the diagnosis. I wasn't there when the engine builder took the engine apart, but he says that the correct cam bearing was installed; again reiterating that he's done all of the engines for the Nabers brothers since '67. Furthermore, he felt that the cam bearing (Durabond CH 9A) isn't grooved enough to provide adequate lubrication even tho' the manufacturer claims it does. It's a three hole bearing but there's just not enough flow.

Using an old camshaft he had in the shop, but one that was grooved, and that cam bearing, the engine had great flow when bench tested using a distributor for pre-lubing. In this second rebuild, I decided to spring for a roller cam from Comp Cams. They say it needn't be grooved, just use the Durabond cam bearing...but a bench test proved it didn't oil well either! With the new roller cam grooved, the engine oils great using the same cam bearing (actually, a new one of the same ilk). The engine always had good oil pressure on the gauge, it was a volume issue for sure.)

The builder, Sid Johnson, of Johnson Engineering, here in Houston, and I agreed to split the cost of the engine R&R. I think that's reasonable, but it still stings. Not sure how anything could have been different here. Thanx for everyone's advice and thoughts.

MiguelsC2

Glad you got it worked out Steve. That sounds like an issue many would overlook or let go. Good thing you didn't.

Seemed to be a no fault situation. Just an obscure parts issue. Unfortunately it falls on your wallet.

You would think with 40+ yrs of building Corvette motors,the mechanic would have known of these obscure issues.

I guess it's time to let it go and enjoy the car.That roller cam should have added some extra HP.

steve meltzer

thanx for the help here. I'm gonna have Patricio and Armando re-do the headlights and the car's ready to go. I might catch you over there (probably take it over Saturday). Regards, steve

kskid

If the rockers are not flooded with oil, sounds like a oil galley hex plug is missing.

MiguelsC2

Might want to read the whole thread. This case is solved and closed.

steve meltzer

The first thought was just that....missing galley plugs...not so. s

kskid

Sorry, I missed page 3.

steve meltzer

Hey Kskid...couldn't resist, but I was born and raised in Great Bend! (Grew up with the Marmie kids, who probably still own half of the dealerships in central Kansas)