195.6 OHV Lubrication

10-29-2025

Lubrication system overview

(Shown below: modified 1965 oil pump on 1965 engine, installed in Tom’s 1960 Rambler American Super wagon.)

The lubrication system in this engine has proven to be adequate to the task. This engine was designed before the Interstate highway system existed; it was not intended for extended high-speed operation but seems to be just fine with all components in good order.

Oil Selection

Lubricants are so good today that any good quality 10W-30 or 10W-40 is more than adequate. Tom usually runs O’Reilly Auto Parts house brand 10W-40. Frank ran various oil brands in his 63 American for 14 years. On a recent 2500 mile Southwest road trip Tom made from sea-level through 7000 feet, peak oil temperature did not exceed 230 F, average was about 200 F. If you plan on sustained operation above 3000 RPM, I suggest at minimum measuring sump temperature and backing off on excessive temperature rise. Hot oil is thin oil. I have found that a substantial oil cooling system is required for hard use above 3200 rpm. It’s easy to plumb a medium sized oil cooler in the return oil line with the stock filter or using Tom’s modified oil pump and filter.

Tom recommends an oil change interval of 2000 miles, or less after hard use (my roadster). 2000 miles is not excessive. These are old engines, there is a lot of ring blow-by, and the crankcase is not sealed.  Frank typically changed his oil every 3000 miles and experienced no issues. Oil is cheaper than rebuilding an engine.

Zinc (ZDDP, to be exact) in oil in a flat tappet engine is controversial. Much like running unleaded gas in engines made for leaded, and running gas with alcohol in old engines. All of these are controversial, but fuel and oil engineers will quickly debunk most arguments. Frank corresponded with an oil engineer at Warren Oil Company not long after the reduced zinc debacle emerged. The engineer plainly stated that one of the criteria as to how much could safely be removed was any formulation had to be compatible with old engines — they had to survive with minimal or no added wear. So any standard automotive oil is safe to run in any factory stock engine — with the possible exception of a few 1960s limited production factory high performance engines (even the 1965 Ford 289 K-Code engine only had 285# valve springs). Specifically, the engineer stated that anything under 320# open pressure should be safe on a flat tappet cam. Keep it to no more than 300# and you should be good. Few cams require that much pressure. An exception is fast ramp cams like Comp Xtreme cams. They really aren’t a good choice for regular street use. If you use something with much over 300# of pressure (open) definitely use an off-road racing oil or a high pressure additive. Diesel oil has more high pressure additive and is used by many old car enthusiasts, but it’s not really formulated for the needs of a gasoline engine. That said, it meets or exceeds any of the SAE standards for passenger car oil from the 1960s and 70s. The Warren oil engineer also stated that today’s oil is so superior to anything made from the late 80s and earlier that he personally would never run anything except the latest API rating (currently SP). Ratings older than 1996 (SA through SH) are not recommended for any engines by API (American Petroleum Institute). They bear this warning: “May not provide adequate protection against build-up of engine sludge, oxidation, or wear.”

ALWAYS use a break-in additive or oil for initial cam/lifter break-in. That is critical. Frank typically uses the break-in additive in the first oil change as well (100-200 miles on first oil, then 500-1000 miles on second) just for a little peace of mind. After that standard oil is used. His last engine is still running great with no drop in oil pressure (built in 2009, over 70K miles as of 2025). Stories of cams being wiped after the ZDDP reduction are exaggerated. Most of those can be traced back to improper heat treating of the cam blanks.

 

The oil pump

The oil pump is an externally mounted gear pump. The pump inserts into the lower right side of the block, pulls oil from the pan and pushes it directly into the main oil gallery that runs along the right side from end to end. The top end (rocker shaft, etc) is lubricated by an external line that carries oil from a tap on the block up to the head casting where it flows upward through a rocker shaft support and into the hollow shaft, and from there to each rocker. On earlier engines the top-end source is the main gallery, eg. full engine oil supply. On later engines the top end is fed by an intermittent source generated by a flat on the camshaft’s front journal that pulses the main gallery feed, to limit oil flow to the top end.

The oil pump can be removed fairly easily. Remove one of the two bolts attaching the idler arm to the chassis, loosen the other, and swing the idler arm out of the way (required in the 58-63 American, at least). The pump will come out and just clear everything. On my modified pump I take the hose off, leaving the 90-degree elbow in place.

Crankshaft main journals are fed directly from the main gallery as is each cam bearing. Connecting rod bearings receive oil via passages drilled in the crank. The connecting rod big end has a squirt hole that lubricates the cam lobe journals (but there are conn rods with two, or no, holes, both flathead and OHV, so who really knows). The cam is also splash lubricated. Some years have piston squirt lubrication via conn rod squirt hole (the same hole that lubricates the cam). If you have rods with only one hole that hole should be facing the cam, but there is a mark on the rod designating the front that must be honored first.

There are at least three different oil pumps that fit in this engine, with caveats:

• The most common pump, aftermarket replacement Melling M61, used on nearly all 195.6 OHV and L-head engines.
• The 1964? and 1965 pump, an M61 with an AMC-designed top cover incorporating full-flow filtration and a pressure-relief valve. This is the most desirable engine option if you have a choice in the matter. This pump will bolt to an older engine, but some modifications must be made.
• The E-Stick pump, which is taller with taller gears — a high volume pump. This can be used on non E-stick engines with a fabricated cover as a high-performance option, but really isn’t necessary. Remember, AMC changed to metered oiling of the cylinder head in 63 to reduce volume to the head.

Most discussion and photos on this page and this site are of the most common M61 pump unless specified otherwise.

 

Oil pump types

The stock pump, replacement part Melling M61, fits all 195.6 engines except 1965. Oil filtration is elsewhere, and an afterthought, indeed, an option at time of purchase until 1962 or 1963. The “bypass” system does adequately filter the oil over time. For many years, and in two engines, I have run a stock M61 pump with fabricated cover for external full flow filtration. See below for details. The M61 pump can be removed/installed on the engine with the engine in the car.

The E-Stick pump was used in E-Stick optioned cars for only 18 months, 1962 to 1963 I think. E-stick was unsuccessful product-wise, an automatic clutch operated by engine oil pressure. The pump body and gears are probably 50% larger and correspondingly higher-volume than the M61. However the cover for this pump contained E-Stick “logic” and solenoids, and requires a fabricated cover for use as a “hot rod” pump for non-E-Stick cars. The M61 cover is too small.

An E-Stick pump with fabricated cover is now installed in my roadster’s endurance motor. The E-stick pump chamber bores are 1.615″ diameter and 1.49″ deep, vs 1.355″ bore and 1.40″ deep for the M61.

 

1965-only oil pump

1965 has it’s own, improved pump with full-flow filtration. The 1965 pump fits only into 1965 blocks. It cannot be used on earlier engines. A full-flow spin-on oil filter is attached directly to the pump and protrudes, interfering with metal in the wheelwell area. However it can be modified to work nicely.

The 1965 engine and its pump cannot be used in the early American chassis (1958..1963) because the spin-on oil filter attached to the pump interferes with the wheel well. There simply isn’t enough room for the filter.

However, if you are willing to remove the pump, remove the filter adapter, and bore and tap the now-exposed IN and OUT ports for 3/8″ NPT to AN flare fittings, you can attach an inexpensive remote-filter kit. The filter  can then be mounted in any convenient location. Tom mounted it forward along the block using timing-cover bolts in his 1960 Rambler American wagon. There are photos further down on this page under “Modification for Full Flow Filtration”.

 

Oil pump priming

When you install an oil pump for the first time, it must be primed. Oil pumps do not self-prime by cranking the engine. On the later, modern AMC six, you can spin the pump with a tool by removing the distributor. That is not possible on this engine; it is directly geared to the camshaft.

The factory recommended method, and one that I’ve always used, is to pack the empty space between the pump gears with vaseline. Pack it, install the pump, and then from under the car, clean off the gasket surfaces, wipe with a solvent rag, then apply sealer and the cover gasket, bolts, etc. Pump installation usually rotates the shaft a bit and spreads vaseline, so it the gasket surfaces may need cleaning again.

There is no way that the factory assembled pumps packed with vaseline, it’s too tedious. There happens to be an NPT tapped hole directly over the pump output, in the main gallery, with a pipe plug in it. Removing this plug and externally forcing oil into the port would certainly prime the pump. But who wants to be the guinea pig and test this? Probably me. I think the test is simple enough: install the dry pump onto the engine, leave the pump cover off, stick a hose nipple, hose, and funnel onto the extra port, oil in the funnel. News at 11.

If you do not prime the pump so that the engine is lubricated in what is the most critical oiling moments in it’s hopefully long history, you will absolutely definitely ruin the engine in the first 5 minutes. We know this from first hand reports.

 

1965 195.6 OHV block, oiling features

Here are some photos of a dirty 1965 block. This 1965 engine is now running in Tom’s 1960 American wagon. After cleaning and rebuilding, of course.

Top-end oiling

The factory service manual mentions this, but it is designated in the first 1965 block photo. The 1964 – 65 block has that visible extra top-end oil port at the front side of the block, and the front cam bearing has a holes to accommodate it along with the regular oil hole (two holes in the front bearing). The front cam journal has a flat (chopped off on a chord) so that the missing portion of the cam journal connects the two ports, for a metered squirt of oil instead of a continuous flow as in earlier engines.

You can mix’n’match cams and bearings if needed, but keep in mind that if you do not have all components — two-hole bearing and slotted front camshaft — the top end will receive no lubrication! In which case simply plumb the oil from the main gallery, an inch below, as per older cars.

 

Oil pump wear

Oil pumps don’t get a lot of attention when motors are built or refreshed. However, they are a component critical for durability and at this great age used pumps must be inspected closely — mainly for gear-to-body clearance and gear tooth edge wear. Oil volume and pressure is dependent on wear in the pump. Gear pumps run close metal-to-metal tolerances to push liquid; they are very sensitive to clearance due to wear. Unfortunately we do not have a specification for gear-to-body clearance but Tom has recorded clearances from four pumps; one new-manufacture old-stock replacement (“NEW”), an old-stock “remanufactured” replacement (“REMAN”), and a used 1965 pump modified for use in his 1960 American (“65MOD”), assembled from selected used parts; and an E-Stick pump put together from NOS parts. The 1965 pump, from a low-milesage engine, received mix’n’match best-of-the-pile gears.

 

AMC oil pump clearance measurements
Pump ID	Gear to body clearance
NEW	.003″
REMAN	.006″
65MOD	.003″
ESTICK	.003″

 

New-manufacture old stock M61 pump.

Gear edge wear

Unfortunately it is not enough to rely on clearance alone. The part of the pump most subject to neglect — infrequent oil changes, crappy oil, etc. — are the outer edges of the gear teeth that sweep oil around the pump cavity. Grit in the oil that approaches the gear to pump clearance wears away the body and gear teeth. The teeth edge become chipped and rough from pumping grit suspended in the oil. The feeler gauge senses the peaks of the teeth — and misses the rough valleys caused by wear.

Gear teeth need to be examined closely for corrosion (from sitting unused in storage) and for pitting at the edge. The easiest way to see pitting is to hold a known straight edge (quality rule such as a 6-inch Starrett, or a new unused single edge razor blade) to the gear edge and view it with a strong backlight.

A new gear will show extremely fine, even and regular machined surface. A worn gear will be rough and pitted.

The photos below show wear on old gears, and what a new gear looks like, taken from the new-manufacture pump shown above. The backlit photos aren’t very good; it takes two hands to do right, here they’re propped up on a Starrett ruler and backlit with a small light. Better to hold in two hands up to the sun.

Worn and pitted oil pump gears

New, unused oil pump gears from the new-manufacture pump above

These are new replacement gears, un-scored and edges straight.

Oil pump pressure relief valve spring

Oil volume and pressure increases with engine RPM since the pump is geared to the camshaft. Additionally, when oil is cold it is thick. For these reasons there is an oil pump pressure relief valve, a plunger and a spring. Excess oil pressure lifts the plunger off it’s seat, dumping main gallery oil into the sump. Simple. On all 195.6’s through 1963, the spring and plunger are under a plug screwed into the block outside, aft of the oil pump. In 1964 and 1965 the oil pressure relief plug, spring, plunger are in the oil pump cover.  The block mounted pressure relief valve is deleted.

The spring in the 1964/1965 pump is a different length (shorter) than the in-block spring.

The oil pump and relief valve specification is 55 to 60 PSI at 2200 rpm (per 1962 TSM).

Here is more information than you ever wanted to know about this spring. It features a little more heavily into this story further below.

 

Through 1963, relief valve in block

AMC oil pump pressure relief valve spring, part 3112400, Jones design 21519-0
length	2-5/8″
diameter	7/16″
wire diameter	0.057″
turns	22.3

 

1964 – 65, relief valve in cover

This is not authoritative, Tom measured the longest used spring he had from a 1965 engine that showed little wear. It is installed and in use in his 1960 American. A fully warmed engine running 2500 rpm holds oil pressure above 55 psi.

1965 only AMC oil pump pressure relief valve spring, part xxx
length	at least 2.35″
diameter	7/16″
wire diameter	0.057″
turns	21

Leakage at the rear of the valve cover

The valve cover design is pretty good but engine oil flows along the rocker shaft and pours steadily right onto the spot where the cover gasket meets the head, and they often develop a minor seep there, even with a new gasket. Any tendency to leak is made worse by the oil pouring off the rocker shaft onto the seal.

A simple twist of steel wire around the far end of the rocker shaft provides a path for oil to return to the cavity in the head casting. There is now no oil leak or mess even when running with the valve cover off. It should be tight enough to have a shape, but loose enough that it can’t wedge itself between the rocker and washer. Even if it wears into two pieces they’ll lay harmlessly on top of the head. Tom has had this in one of his engines for nine years (as of 2023).

Filtration

The bypass oil filtration system on pre 1963 (possibly 1962) models was an extra-cost option. Many 195.6’s have no oil filtration at all. If your engine does not have a filter (mounted adjacent to the radiator, it’s fairly obvious) you should find one and install it. It’s quite easy to do. If  factory base can’t be found it’s simple enough to use a remote filter base and plumb in like the factory filter with custom lines and some adapters.

If you choose not to run a filter you should be prepared for more maintenance. The standard procedure for engines without a filter is to first run (now harder to find) non-detergent oil. All common oil is high detergent. Detergents keep debris suspended in the oil so that the filter can pick it up and filter it out. With non-detergent oil debris falls out of suspension in the pan, especially when the engine is stopped and the oil cools. A sludge eventually builds up in the pan and must be cleaned. Typically the pan was removed and cleaned every few thousand miles. That’s why older model cars all have four point engine mounts — so the crossmember (if there is a suspension crossmember — notably missing in the 58-63 American) can easily be removed or lowered for access to the oil pan.

Most people assume that the bypass filtration system was inadequate. An AMC forum member’s research found that in operation the volume of oil is such that all of the oil is passed through the filter in a surprisingly short period of time. Full-flow filtration is preferable (a given particle will be stopped the first time through the pump) but given adequate oil changes and today’s high quality oil, is not a reason to worry.

Tom didn’t initially think the stock filter system was adequate at first and developed a full-flow system, detailed later on this page.

 

Pump cover gasket

The stock pump cover gasket is .009″ thick hard paper. It’s photographed here on 1″ grid paper, 10 lines per inch. Paper thickness matters — this alone determines gear-end to cover clearance.

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Tom’s modification for full-flow oil filtration

The rest of this page is concerned with modifying the oil pump for full-flow filtration, oil cooling and the Accusump system. None of this optional performance work applies to a stock pump or engine. Full-flow filtering won’t hurt, but it’s not really necessary for a mostly stock engine.

This work is not risk-free; engine lubrication is a core service and you can easily reduce your precious engine to scrap. Proceed with caution and accept responsibility for your actions, not my advice.

Full flow pump modification consists of blocking the factory outlet hole in the pump base and fabricating a cover with an outlet on the top. My first pump I blocked the outlet by drilling out and tapping the body for a short pipe plug, but later ones I fabricated a steel pump base “gasket” minus the outlet hole.

With this modification oil is pumped out the cover, through a 90-degree 8AN line (for chassis clearance) to the cooler and filter, then into the main gallery. Details follow.

(note from Frank: an oil cooler is typically installed between the filter and return to the block, after hot oil has run through the filter)

 

Prototype installation

Below are photos of the original 2010 installation. The rubber hose/nipple system shown here was switched to PTFE lined, braided stainless steel hoses later. The SS hoses are relatively inexpensive in premade lengths from Summit Racing and many others. These original photos do, however, show component location well. The oil filter mount is from a remote oil filter kit. It’s mounted via bracket bolted to the timing chain cover bolts.

The oil filter is either Wix 510988 (tall) or 51374 (short) (Application: 1986 BMW 325 2.7L, 1986 Mercedes 190E 2.3L.). These both have anti-drainback and pressure-bypass features. Anti-drainback is not needed if the filter is mounted upside down; pressure-bypass is not needed if you change your oil!

Note that a similar setup can be used to add a filter if you don’t have the factory filter base. Just run a line from the plug in the main oil gallery visible below the “L” in the photo to the filter adapter “IN” port (the line running from the oil pump cover). The “OUT” port should be run to the other side of the engine to a plug just above the oil pan near the oil fill tube. With the pump base mounted directly to the engine solid steel brake lines can be used. Tom could use steel instead of flexible lines in his installation also.  It is a bit harder to bend steel lines in the correct shape, but they can be purchased with flare fitting on each end in six inch increments (from 6″ to 60″) at any auto parts store.

Pump body modifications

The pump (green assembly with three cover bolts, lower left in the first picture) sucks oil from the pan and as modified, pushes oil out the cover through the lower hose. Oil flows through cooler, filter then into the center of the main gallery where the AMC factory conveniently put a 1/4″ NPT tapped hole, directly above the original pump feed location. The cooler isn’t in these photos, it’s only used in Tom’s roadster.

Sadly I don’t have a single photo of the necessary steel shim “gasket” that blocks the pump-to-gallery outlet, but it was easy to fabricate — I simply traced out the oil pump base gasket onto .025″ sheet steel and drilled all of the holes except pump outlet.

The new pump top has an outlet directly opposite the original outlet in the pump body; oil under pressure now exits up not down. The cover is fabricated from two pieces of 1/4″ steel stock, the small piece stiffens and builds up height for sufficient threads in the tapped NPT hole, and allowed the driven-gear lubrication well to be a simple through hole in the larger plate. The small milled groove feeds pump inlet oil (not outlet pressure) to the top of the driven gear and matches the factory configuration.

The location of the outlet hole was fairly touchy; note that it is not centered in the gear output cavity, but slightly to one side. This is due to interference with the top pump bolt. Socket-head bolts are required. The hole seems large but the effective diameter is actually the ID of the fitting, about 3/8″.

After welding, the plate warps; I milled it more or less flat then ground it flat flat with 80-grit wet-or-dry on a ground cast iron plate. Flatness matters here, this is the mating/sealing surface for the pump gears as well as the pump body gasket surface. You might want to have this done by a machine shop. The gasket is dimensionally thin, hard, and subject to full pump pressure, and this is a core mission-critical part. It’s worth the extra effort to get this perfect.

The gasket must be trimmed around the new outlet hole.

To the cover I added a 90-degree 3/8″ pipe to 1/2″ flare tubing adapter. I used a stainless steel parts instead of plumbing store brass. I needed to shave about 1/16″ off one side of the flare adapter to clear the hex socket bolt head. I assembled the adapter and plate on the bench and was able to get it very tight. It should be left pointing towards the front of the car, up 45 degrees or so from horizontal; this gives maximum clearance under the car and allows for easiest wrench access.

(A hardware store type brass 90 degree hose nipple is shown here; when I switched out the rubber hoses I installed much larger bore and higher quality stainless steel AN flare elbow.)

Note also that internally, the fitting must be flush or below cover plate flush. I removed metal from the fitting so that it was 0.010″ or so below flush when assembled.

The hex head bolts shown in this early photo interfered with the line fitting; I replaced all the bolts with socket head bolts. The top bolt also needs to be 3″ long rather than the stock 2.5″ given the additional thickness.

Plumbing, oil filter, sizing and flow

This system puts full un-bypassed pump pressure into the inlet of the filter, which only matters for OEMs making millions of cars where owners do no maintenance. The stock oil pressure relief valve remains in the stock location.

Here is my roadster with above oil pump mods, and the addition of an Accusump system to deal with oil pressure loss in hard turns (certainly not needed in a street car).

The critical hoses that appear to stick up exposed are carefully placed to fit into recesses in the hood and aren’t as exposed to harm as the appear to be here. It’s tight in there, it’s a small car.

There’s a lot of hose in there, and it’s “only” 8AN. Bends are all large radius, two 45-degree fittings and one 90, necessary for clearance out of the pump, but it was bored and smoothed out. Also see the smoothing and debugging done to the pump.

But this isn’t a big modern V8 oiling system. Here the pump feeds the main gallery through a 5/16″ hole. With the admittedly weak test of blowing through the hose, there’s little restriction. By 1600 rpm the relief valve is open, limiting pressure to 60 psi, so volume is adequate for that to happen. In any case it’s been running for years with good effect.

With cold 20W-50 oil pressure at idle has the relief valve open; even 2000 rpm pushes cold (60F) pressure past 75 psi, hence the switch of oils.

As of Nov 2021 this system has three years and over 35,000 miles of demanding use.

2010’s modded pump disassembled in 2017

When the engine was again overhauled in 2016/2017 this modded pump had been in use for six years and some 50,000 miles. There is some minor scuffing of the cover by the gears. I neglected again to photograph the steel blocking gasket.

I did not re-use this pump body and gears; it was a used part when i started, and I found a brand-new pump to replace it. It received the same modifications and fabricated top cover and is now in service. Gear to body clearance is tighter too.

Another modified system

A friend of Tom’s recently bought a ’63 hardtop as an uncompleted project. The engine was nicely built, and the builder also modified the oiling system for full-flow filtration.

In this case the builder drilled and tapped the stock, factory cover for the 90-degree elbow. I didn’t do that because I thought there would not be enough threads, but it seems adequate here. (I do have a tendency to overbuild.)

Pushing my luck: lubrication system failure

Tom:

Some time after 2008 I started treating my little ’63 American as a sport(y) car, and pushing the engine harder and harder. In 2010 I rebuilt it, using a local shop for the machine work, what I thought at the time was good work.

In 2016 I burned that engine up, melting all the rod big-end and main bearings in an admittedly stressful situation: 24 Hours of LeMons Hell On Wheels Rally (rally, not race); wide-open-throttle in top gear, climbing a 20% grade in Death Valley in August 2015, 115F air temperature.

I managed to limp home with an increasingly loud bearing rap. Before the teardown for the 2017 build I did some tests and experiments to determine the source of the failure. Suspecting hot oil, I inserted a Stewart Warner temperature sensor into the rear-most main gallery port (1/8″ NPT) and drove up the local freeway — within 10 miles and at modest speeds (60-ish mph) the temperature rose to nearly 230F. Now 230F is fine — but this was a brief test drive in cool weather. Wide open throttle desert highway 115F ambient is quite another thing.

That only partially explained the low operating oil pressure. I pulled the engine out, and examined the oil pump pressure relief valve spring and found that it had collapsed.

The failed spring was fairly easy to find; there was little tension on it when I removed it from the block. Shimming it (ultimately with a 3/8″ spacer) brought oil pressure up to normal.

Conclusion: failure was caused by two factors: severe engine oil overheating and a collapsed oil pump pressure relief valve spring. Oil viscosity is directly relate to temperature, so the oil film was thin. The failed (soft) spring lowered oil pressure from it’s typical 55 – 60 psi to 45, then 40, then 35 psi, at highway speeds.

Upon disassembly, all of the connecting rod big end bearings had melted in place. the 2017 build included a substantial oil cooler. Now, under similar load conditions, oil temperature stays under 220F, and on modest highway use 190F (engine coolant temperature).

 

High performance lubrication

In 2017 I saved up a lot of pennies and had a professional builder, Pete Fleming in the San Fernando Valley, build my next engine. Many pennies. Nearly all of the hefty expense went into top-notch machine work, such as very careful clearancing of crank and rod bearings and journals.

Pete clearanced this engine to run 20W-50 Valvoline VR1 racing oil (available in Los Angeles). This oil is thick when cold; during warmup I keep RPM down so that oil pressure stays under 75 psi. One cold morning oil pressure spiked high enough to push out the oil filter gasket. Road side repair, limped home, did more research, and switched to Mobil1 15W-50, one of the few full synthetics to have sufficient zinc and phosphorous for the (highly stressed) flat tappets because it has better viscosity index [Nov 2021 note: I now think the zinc worry on broken-in engines is a waste of time].

Oil choice and selection

Here are the documents I ended up with after my oil research.

• A Study of SAE 5W-30 Synthetic Motor Oils (June 2013)
• Mobil1 engine oils zinc and phosphorous content (Feb 2019)
• Mobil1 15W-50 specifications
• Valvoline VR1 racing oil specifications
• AMSOIL Z-ROD synthetic motor oil for flat-tappet motors

High-performance system components

I’ll allow my squirrel helper here to show you the oil cooling and filtration system installed on the roadster engine. Her right hand is on the cooler feed line. She doesn’t actually accomplish much around here but ensures that no peanuts are left lying about.

The current system consists of the stock pump modified for full flow oil filtration, a fairly large stacked-plate cooler with fan, and an Accusump accumulator system from Canton Racing Products. How and why I got here is described below. The full oiling system is visible, other than the oil filter hiding beneath the alternator. The photo below shows the oil pump (red, protruding from the block), the line running to the alternator forward, and the line from the Accusump feeding the main gallery, top and center. Lines are PTFE lined stainless steel braid, crimped 8AN fittings.

Oil cooling

Given that I had already made the full-flow filtration modifications back in 2016, adding an oil cooler was relatively easy. Oil cooling is flatly necessary for anything more than casual Sunday drives. Without the substantial mod to the oil pump described below, however, there is no way to get at the oil flow. (Frank: On a stock engine a cooler can be inserted in the return line from the filter to the block)

Oil temperature sensor

For the 2017 rebuild I installed a 1/8″ NPT bung for a Stewart Warner temperature sensor down low in the pan.

A note on oil cooler mounting: I originally had the oil cooler mounted down in the valance, a big screened hole below the right headlight. In Death Valley (or equiv.) this was great — however in cool/cold weather it took over 30 minutes to warm up. It’s since been moved to it’s current location under the hood.

Here it is mounted on a bracket bent to fit the cooler onto the curved inner fender and to provide about an inch of clearance for air flow. I’m not totally happy with it circulating under-hood air, but it seems adequate. (If I ‘hole’ the inner fender the fan will then draw cooler air from the wheel well area, should I need it.)

 

Oil cooler fan operation

In my installation I have a fairly elaborate all-electronic closed-loop cooling system controlling the oil cooler fan. However, the inline thermoswitch built into the cooler is more than adequate.

These modifications allow me to run this engine at more or less full output for extended periods and have engine oil temperature stay below 200F. On a 6000 mile drive across the country (Los Angeles to the southeast, for the 2016 HOT ROD Power Tour) peak oil temperature was 220F.

oil pressure loss in hard turns: Accusump

Yet another serious oiling system problem appears only when the car it’s in is driven hard and fast on mountain/canyon roads like we have here in California. I was doing planned/routed “tours” with a vintage sports car crowd and the roadster is now fast enough to cause severe loss of oil pressure in turns due to sloshing in the pan. I neglected to take the time to baffle the pan when the engine was built. The sump only holds four quarts, though I often drive with five, but then I get oil misting issues and increased oil consumption.

Someone on the 2018 California Melee suggested I look into an Accusump; after research and email discussion with Jeff at Canton Racing Products I bought and installed one.

Briefly, the Accusump accumulator is a cylinder with a sliding piston inside, oil on one side and pressurized air on the other. The oil side is connected to the engine’s main gallery through two separate and distinct valves: a small, low flow orifice with check valve and a larger, electrically controlled dump valve.

The small orifice and check valve allows high-pressure engine oil to fill the accumulator relatively slowly, the piston compressing the air side until equilibrium. (Here, the accumulator has two quarts of oil at something over 70 psi, which is the cold-engine-oil startup pressure). The slow-fill assures that an empty accumulator won’t starve the engine while it fills.

The second valve on the Accusump is large and electrically controlled. Its purpose is to allow the pressurized oil in the accumulator to feed the engine when the oil pressure form the main pump temporarily plummets; in my typical case, in severe turns at speed in mountain roads (or panic-type stops) when enough oil has sloshed to one side or the other, allowing the oil pump to suck air. It typically takes 2 to 10 seconds to recover from this during which oil pressure is zero. Plain bearings don’t like this, especially under load.

Canton has different manual and electric solenoid valves, and different range pressure switches to control the electric solenoid valve. The switch closes (applying power to the solenoid, opening the valve) at a fixed pressure, and opens (powers off) at a somewhat higher fixed pressure. The trick is to pick a pressure switch that remains closed during typical idle (lowest speed/lowest normal oil pressure).

My engine idles at 600 rpm where oil pressure is typically 35 – 40 psi. I selected a switch that closes (turns on) at 35 psi and off at 40 psi. This would mean that when I throttled back the accumulator would dump oil until it equalized to idle pressure (eg. 35 psi). In my case I added a computer output that is “off” below 800 rpm and drive the switch from that. Any aftermarket ignition (eg. MegaJolt Lite Jr, Megasquirt, etc) has outputs for this, or simply set the idle up, or put up with it as-is; in my case at speed the thing would be full anyway under load/speed when I needed it.

Preoiling

The second thing that sold me on the Accusump is that it provides full-pressure engine pre-oiling. At ignition-on the switch is closed (0 psi), solenoid open and the accumulator pushes oil into the engine until it reaches the “off” pressure (40 psi here). Takes about two seconds.

Slightly complicated oil changes

The Accusump makes oil changes slightly more complicated. Before draining the oil the accumulator must be emptied; simply power the solenoid on until the air pressure gauge reads minimum. After draining and refilling, pull a wire off the switch/solenoid to ensure that the big valve does not open and starve the engine. Post-oil-change is the one time when the accumulator is empty and there is no oil in the gallery.

Paths not followed

Oil pump “blueprinting”

This oil pump is very old technology. Huge clearances, rough castings, heavy, cheap to make, and reliable. Note the rough casting in the pump outlet! There’s a lot of room for improvement here…

My first modified oil pump failed.

Stock gear-end clearances on the stock pump run about .008 – .009″. Hoping to improve oiling, I carefully ground the pump body down so that total gear-to-cover clearance was about .002″. Oil volume and pressure went way way up — 40+ psi at idle, 60 – 80 psi above 1500 rpm. In fact I had problems with the bypass valve not able to dump enough oil back into the pan to keep cold-engine pressures under control. 2000 miles later, the driven gear nicked the cover, and momentarily locked, shearing teeth off the drive gear (I shut the engine down immediately, it seems no further harm done).

At that time, 2010 or 2011, I replaced it with a factury pump, with the blocking plate and custom cover and full flow filtration. Pressures are a more normal 25+ psi at idle, 50 – 60 psi hot 1600 rpm and up. Somewhere between these two extremes, .002″ excessively tight, .009″ factory loose, is probably a happy compromise. Without a specific reason I’m reluctant to do the experiments. Probably dropping clearances to .005 – .006″ would make for a healthy increase without any reliabity threat (the pump needs explicit end-play control, such as a ball).

Note the pump packed with vaseline for initial startup — this is required. It is not possible to prime the pump externally. It is geared directly to the camshaft, not via the distributor drive gear. It’s a slight pain to pack and keep the gasket surface grease-free so that sealer will seal, but this is a critical feature.

The 1964-up factory full-flow-filtration oil pump assembly

The aluminum engine (used only in the 10 series (Classic) chassis) had a pump that incorporated full-flow filtration. In 1964 that pump was installed in iron 195.6 OHV engines in the new-for-1964 01 series (American). The filter on this pump will not clear the suspension or chassis of the pre-1964 01/American.

I got a rusted ’64 pump from a friend, it was too far gone to use but it served as a model for cogitating on a solution. The fundamental limitation in the pre-1964 American chassis is clearance. I believe that if I had a decent Classic pump I could have modified it for my own ends, but I couldn’t find one, and the non-filter pump is common enough so I based my hack on that.

Below are some pics of the 1965 full-flow filtration pump I got from Joe. Though the casting was too pitted to be used, I did make mods to it that would have solved the problem.

This casting is based upon the venerable old pump, but has a complicated cover that incorporates the overpressure bypass that dumps oil back to the pump inlet; therefore the filter will never get unregulated pressure. That’s a required choice for an OEM environment, but not a much of a worry in mine.

Worse, this pump does not fit the earlier blocks; the block casting is wider at the pump mounting face, because there is a passageway in the pump outlet that requires the block face to seal it. The old blocks have air where the new block has cast iron.

However, I needed to block that outlet anyways, so I fabricated a steel button that would clamp under the pump body and block the main gallery passageway. Additionally, the pump outlet would be drilled and tapped as is the other pump. This made the button dimensions critical (note the paint marks I used to verify alignment and contact area) and in the end I abandoned this path; the other pump is far easier to mod, far more common and is in fact lower-profile than the 1965 pump.