Doing some winter inspections on the truck and changing the valve cover gasket. I came across this in the middle of the rocker arms and am not familiar with it. Educate me please. Thanks. Dave
Oiler tube for the rocker arm shaft. Most I've seen are smaller in diameter. Oil should flow out of it when the engine is running.
This is one more example of how GM's Engineering Dept. once ruled the Vehicular World (not that I'm a biased GM/CHEVROLET fanboi or anything ) ~ it's the overflow pipe for the rocker oiling system , early OHV engines always had issues with poor oiling causing premature wear of the rockers and their shafts and bushings , especially back when most oils were single grade paraffin based crap . So , Chevrolet Division came up with a simple solution : a low pressure , high volume oiling system that keeps everything well lubricated no matter what . So much oil was piped to the rocker box at operating speeds above idle that it often puddled and got sucked past the (crappy , cheaply made low co$t) intake valve guides , causing smoking upon trailing throttle . Adding this 180° return flow pipe helped by guiding oil more than necessary to keep the rockers lubricated , back to the upper deck of the cylinder head where it would run off and return to the sump . This one appears to be broken and 1/2 way fixed by adding a bit of hose to it . One more reason why there are still tens of thousands of un restored old GM/Chevy and Buick overhead valve , inline engines still running along just fine .
Thanks all for your reply, I thought that was what it was but it also looked kind of strange. Nate again answered why it looked odd. Thanks all.
