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Re: oil starvation (was: Bearing noise location)

To: thorpe@kegs.saic.com (Denise Thorpe)
Subject: Re: oil starvation (was: Bearing noise location)
From: wzehring@cmb.biosci.wayne.edu (Will Zehring)
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 1995 08:01:13 -0500
Denise sez:
>
>Someone (the aforementioned Pat, late of Octagon) told me (Have you noticed
>that people are always telling me things?) that if the oil in an MGB engine 
>is below halfway between full and add, then the cam isn't getting any 
>lubrication.  


Zowie.  There are a lot of people who know more than I do about this but I 
have a really hard time beliveing this one.  If this is true, it sounds like 
the factory put the "add" mark in the wrong place on the dip stick.  In my 
'63 it seems to me that the volume difference between full and add is about 
3/4 of a quart, or about 20% of the engine's oil capacity.  If my cam wasn't 
getting *any* oil at that point (besides: isn't the rocker arm shaft the 
final preasure drop in the oil system?) why hasn't it siezed or spun a 
bearing or something horrible like that?  I can't comprehend a cam spinning 
with *NO* oil lubricating the bearing surfaces (and disipating heat, too).  
The lobes of the cam shaft are lubed by drainage from the head, down the 
pushrods, anyway.  If you weren't getting oil to the cam lobes then you 
probably wouldn't be getting oil to the rocker arms either and it would be 
my guess that you'd have a passle-o-trouble then.  

My B leaks oil like a supertanker (from the dreaded rear "seal"); probably 
75% of the miles I put on it have the oil level halfway below the full mark 
(or worse).  I'd have to set up an IV drip on the d**n thing to keep it up 
there at the full mark constantly. 

Any reactions?

Will Zehring 


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