Would like to confirm where and how the valve guides/valve stems receive their lubrication. With splash oiling, it's a long way from the dipper pans to the valve guides and it's all uphill! There is obviously and opening that allows oil in, but haven't been able to identify it exactly.
Thanks for the info.
Shall we discuss Marvel Mystery Oil?
Mike, I don't think there is an opening that allows oil to reach the valve guides.
There for I add every other gas tank some two stroke oil in the gas. Maybe it don't need it but it gives me a good feeling.
I tell you why:
When I was young, some 50 years ago, I used to help my grandmother by selling gas in her gasstation. As there was a car with a "Lateral engine" with each total gas fill up she gives the owner a little can(10cc) of "head oil" for free to add in his gas tank. The "head oil" was for lubrication of the valve guides.
The "head oil" don't exist any more so I use two stroke oil 1/50 on my 1958 Anglia and all the model T's
Andre
Belgium
Would you like the Ford answer? Look up part number 3053.5 in a Ford part book. Also look up 3059.5. That will tell how they get oiled. Dan
The engine vacuum will pull some oil into the intake valves. This intake of oil will increase with wear on the engine. There is some oil vaporized as a mist inside the crankcase, and that oil will work its way into the valve lifters and guides. It is unlikely any oil in the gasoline will make it as far as the exhaust valve guides because it will burn on combustion. And the exhaust pressure will tend to force any other oil out rather than into the valve guides.
Don't underestimate the splash factor. While the engine is running and the crank is spinning it would be difficult to keep oil out of every nook and cranny.
The magnets on the flywheel sling oil all over the place where it bounces around. The rods sling it also. vacuum sucks it up the stems. OK OK there is no such thing as vacuum so it is air pressure that pushes it up the stem to the place where there is less pressure.
Vacuum sucks.
Frank: That's for sure. I (daughter, I didn't double check) forgot to put one of the transmission cover screws back in, and oil came out in a stream, landed about a foot clear of the hog's head.
Lucas Top Cylinder Lubricant- 1/4oz added to 10gal of gas will lubricate the valve guides, eliminate the harmful deposits left by ethanol gas which cause the valves to stick.
Since it does not burn there will be no carbon deposits and both intake and exhaust valves get lubricated.
This is an alternative to MMO- but without the carbon.
When you look at the design of the block, the valve guides are in a ledge above the large window in the side of the block to access the lifters and springs and are isolated from any potential splash from the rods. They have to get a steady supply of oil somehow, especially the exhaust valves which are operating in an inferno and would soon sieze. Obviously I need to look closer at the block architecture for the answer.
Thanks for all the helpful feedback.
Leakage around the valve guide / stem interface sucks oil mist into the valve stems. They are well lubricated.
If your valve guides are worn you get heavy oil burning because lots of oil is sucked in to the cylinders.
Any oil added to the gas just burns in the combustion chamber and becomes carbon deposits, so don't waste your time with that. You have a four stroke Model T engine, not a two stroke weed whacker.
There are two holes in the bottom of the lifter area that allows oil get into the valves while the engine is running. Remove your valve cover and run the engine if you'd like to see how well it works.
Kenny,
I always thought (no facts, just had the impression) that those two holes were there to allow the oil to drain back into the oil pan. I figured the oil got in there by the combined effects of splash, the up and down movement of the lifters, and a little from the intake suction (vacuum that does not exist).
Kenny, it would be an interesting experiment to see what one would see if the valve galley cover was replaced with some clear plexy. Seems I saw someplace a similar experiment with a plexy band inspection cover.
Go watch an open valve engine run and you will see where the oil comes from. Dan
My 1912 block had no drain holes until I drilled them in 2008 during its rebuild. I pulled one of the valve covers after the engine had been running . I was rewarded with a half quart of oil when the cover was removed.
I've also drilled mine & several other early blocks for drains.