SaaaaaaaaaWeeeet!!!

There's just something about that body style that just never gets old...

 

When I take off the Valve Covers and run the engine, I noticed there isn't much oil lubing the valves. Some one told me that the old fords had a problem with oil getting up to the top of the engine and that they used oil bypass kits to force oil up.
Is this true and if so, where do you get this and is this why the engine is burning oil because it's not getting lubed correctly?
Thanks,

 

Since we last chatted, I have pulled out the engine and removed the heads. I have completely dismantled and cleaned everything with brass brushes and wheels. Valves had a lot of build-up and some were not seating properly. Some valve seals were cracked.
After clean-up the valves, springs, keepers all look new. I am replacing all of the seals. (That was definitely part of the problem).
I bought a lapping tool and compound to reseat the valves.


Questions:
1.) The head gaskets are metal and very clean, can they be re-used?
2.) Does anything have to be done with the heads prior to re-assembly? They seem extremely flat and the guides don't appear worn.

 

No, standard head gaskets are not reusable.

I'm guessing your heads haven't been upgraded to hard valves/seats. (?)
The reason pre unleaded engines can burn unleaded fuel is those old heads/valves were subjected to leaded fuel over a long time, and a collection of. If you stripped/cleaned the valves, guides, seats, of the deposits you'll most likely have valve issues sooner than later. A lead additive can and should be used if the plan is to 'not' have the valve train work done or upgraded.

Hard to know what the heads/surfaces look like, but if a good straight edge shows no discrepancies, the surface/faces are sound, guides are good (no lip on the valve stems, scoring/sanded etc) , no cracks, seats and valves aren't beat in, and valve/seat angles look good you may get lucky. If there's any doubt, a machine shop "quick view"'of what you have might be a good idea over breaking it down again. Most will look over what you have and give you advice on go, no go..

 

Did the valves.
cleaned everything and inspected everything, all looks good.
Replaced (all) the valve stem seals.
Lapped the valves and re-assembled.
While I have this beast out I figure I will do the rings.
Any idea what grit of hone I should use?
Cylinder walls are all shiny and smooth.

 

"Did the valves", meaning the valves and seats are now hard replacements?, or, the old soft stock units were a regrind only? If not upgraded to hard parts, you'll have to run leaded fuel additive to the gas or it'll burn valves..

A medium hone works well (240 grit) and most 3 finger hones will come with medium stones. Honing is only to break the glaze in the cylinders. Any significant top cylinder wear lip may indicate a needed block bore. Same with tapper, or out of round checks. Generally, if there's no to little cylinder wear lip, even wear, as well as any signification lip/edge at the bottom of the bore, honing is usually enough.

Mic the cylinders if you can is a good idea to see total wear, out of round, and bore tapper. Prior to assembly, install a new ring 'just below' the top of the wear area of each cylinder. Measure the ring 'end gap' with a feeler gage. A rule of thumb is,, .004 for every inch of bore size. So,, a 4" bore x .004 would be .016 thousand ring end gap. If the gap goes excessive, it may suffer comp and oil consumption issues..