HELP! no oil to timeing chain

[vj318]

hello just finished putting a 318 together for my wifes 70 belvedere. started it up runs great but after about 15 miles of driving it began to squeal like a loose belt. after finding out the belts were ok I removed everything on the front of the motor except the crank damper. it still squeeled, so I removed the damper off of the crank and started the engine. the squeal went away. so while the motor was running I looked past the front seal and could see that no oil was getting to the timeing cover to oil the timing chain. so the squeal was comeing from a dry front main seal. what could I have done wrong putting the motor together to cause this. oil pressure is good and all rockers are getting oiled.

 

[A383Wing]

did you install the special bolt with the hole in it for t-chain oiling? It's one of the 4 that hold the plate on under the cam gear....service manual will show you what it is and which place to mount it

 

[dla4567]

holes in cam bearings must line up with holes in block. Maybe one turned or passage plugged up. Also check to see if something is blocking hole in end of cam. If you use a drill to operate oil pump and turn engine over by hand slowly you should get some oil flow when holes line up. good luck.

 

[texas69bee]

A383Wing... Could you show a pic of what you are talking about, cause I am completely lost on what you are saying. I checked the service manual and I don't get it?

 

[snakeoil24]

Also do you have the oil slinger on the crank shaft?

 

[vj318]

I wasn't aware that there was such a bolt in the cam retainer plate. I,ll have to look thru my manual for it. the cam bearings should be correct because I did not remove them because the engine didn't have a lot of miles on it. yes the oil slinger is in place. with the vibration damper off you can see it behind the front seal. with the engine running and the vibration damper off I can look past the seal into the timing cover and see no evidence of oil dripping on the oil slinger or the crank. Well I guess I,ll go look at the manual now. thanks for the info.

 

[vj318]

well I looked thru 4 different automotive manuals. none of them said anything about a special bolt for the camshaft thrust plate for a 318. but one of them did show a pic of the thrust plate mounted to the engine with only 3 bolts in it. it had a chain oil tab in the bottom rh hole. when I took the engine apart before the rebuild it did not have a chain oil tab, it had all 4 bolts in the thrust plate. any further help would be appreciated.

 

[Meep-Meep]

A383 is right. Small blocks have an oil squirter (bolt with hole) but that may not be completely necessary. There is a ton of oil flying around and squeezing out of the front main and cam bearing so hard to believe you can't get oil on the chain. Going on your explanation of removing the damper and squeal went away....Did you grease the seal? Always grease an oil seal to prevent damage.

 

[A383Wing]

front main bearings in upside down??, meaning upper bearing in lower cap and lower bearing in block

special oil bolt goes where oil chain tab is

 

[Funship32]

Perhaps this will help?

"Small-block Mopars use a thrust plate at the front of the cam, which restrains fore and aft motion. The tab under the right lower bolt was used in later engines for timing chain oiling, while earlier engines had four bolts retaining the thrust plate, with the upper right being hollow to allow oil to drain through it from the lifter valley.

 

[Pistol Pete]

When you say you took everything off of the front of the motor except the damper, was the lower pulley still on at that time ?

 

[vj318]

that is the same pic that was in my 1977 service manual. this was the only manual that said anything at all about the thrust plate installation. I guess I,ll just have to go out to the garage and drain the water out and remove the water pump and timing cover to get a better look at things.

 

[A383Wing]

all small blocks have the thrust plate....

 

[vj318]

just a quick update cause I dont think let anyone know what the outcome was. when it comes to bolts I,m somewhat of a horder I don't throw any away, so I started looking thru the cans of bolts that I had and found a bolt that matched the other thrust plate bolts and it was hollowed out. I installed it in the upper lh side of the plate,[facing the motor] and drove it the rest of the summer with no squeaks. thanks for the help.

 

[Kern Dog]

That is good news. I didn't realize this was an old topic until I read about the update.

 

[A383Wing]

cool, glad to know it's fixed...those little special bots are hard to find