Rover v8 oilways in head

stroprock · Post by **stroprock** » Mon Aug 12, 2013 6:06 pm

Got a question or three about RV8 oiling. Rover heads have two oilways on the gasket face going to the block, one at the back and one at the front. I know the oil gets to the head at the front oilway and feeds back down the rocker shaft, rockers and pushrods, so why is it there's two oilways in the head, yet only one at the front of the block? Is it something to do with he heads not being handed?
Does oil not come out of the rear oilway at all, or is it just blocked off by the block?

ChrisJC · Post by **ChrisJC** » Mon Aug 12, 2013 6:25 pm

It is so the heads are not handed, and yes, there is no hole in the block at the rear.

Chris.

stroprock · Post by **stroprock** » Mon Aug 12, 2013 7:15 pm

ChrisJC wrote:It is so the heads are not handed, and yes, there is no hole in the block at the rear.

Chris.

So no oil should come to the back hole of the head, or it does but is blocked off?

sidecar · Post by **sidecar** » Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:28 pm

stroprock wrote:
ChrisJC wrote:It is so the heads are not handed, and yes, there is no hole in the block at the rear.

Chris.

So no oil should come to the back hole of the head, or it does but is blocked off?

The hole in the back of each head is blocked off by the fact that there is no corresponding holes in the block.

stroprock · Post by **stroprock** » Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:41 pm

sidecar wrote:
stroprock wrote:
ChrisJC wrote:It is so the heads are not handed, and yes, there is no hole in the block at the rear.

Chris.

So no oil should come to the back hole of the head, or it does but is blocked off?
The hole in the back of each head is blocked off by the fact that there is no corresponding holes in the block.

I see, so if there was a corresponding hole then would oil come out of it?

ChrisJC · Post by **ChrisJC** » Mon Aug 12, 2013 9:16 pm

There couldn't be a feed hole with a standard casting at the rear. There isn't any metal to drill the hole into once you are 1/2 inch below the deck!

Chris.

sidecar · Post by **sidecar** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 8:41 am

stroprock wrote:
sidecar wrote:
stroprock wrote:

So no oil should come to the back hole of the head, or it does but is blocked off?
The hole in the back of each head is blocked off by the fact that there is no corresponding holes in the block.
I see, so if there was a corresponding hole then would oil come out of it?

I guess oil would come out of the hole in the head if there was a hole in the block to allow this because the oil would travel up the other feed hole in the head then along the rocker shaft, down the rocker shaft support (which has a hole in it) then down the second hole in the head. This assumes that the oil still has enough pressure behind it to allow this to happen which a doubt it will have.

Really I'm not sure why you are concerned with this, basically you can stick either head on either cylinder bank and it will get all the oil it needs!

The oil come up the block, though the hole in the head, up the the rockshaft support, along the hollow rockershaft and out between the shaft and the rockers. It then runs down the head and down the valley of the block, it dribbles over the cam and back into the sump if it can avoid the spinning crankshaft!

stroprock · Post by **stroprock** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 5:15 pm

I ask because I have an engine which is leaking oil between the head and the block at the front and rear of each head. The front is obviously because the oilway is there, but I wasn't sure about the rear.

sidecar · Post by **sidecar** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 6:14 pm

stroprock wrote:I ask because I have an engine which is leaking oil between the head and the block at the front and rear of each head. The front is obviously because the oilway is there, but I wasn't sure about the rear.

Aha

I guess if the gasket is pretty knackered then I guess it could leak from the front due to the oil feed and from the rear due to the extra hole in the heads. The cork valve cover gaskets can also leak and the oil can run down the outside of the heads and make it look like a head gasket issue.

Some of the better composite gaskets have a sort of o ring formed in them around the oil feed holes, if you end up pulling the heads off try to use this type of gasket. (Assuming that you are using comps not 'tins')