Been playing around with the Olds engines that came with the car I recently bought.  Noticed there are no oiling holes under the rocker stations, and the stations are completely different than the Rover and Buick ones.  How does oil get to the rocker shafts.  The ready to put together engine has a braided oil line attached to the end of the shaft with AN fittings, but this engine was destined for a dry sump.  Also there are 4 sets of pushrods with the various engines.  2 Buick and 2 Olds engines.  2 sets of pushrods are slightly longer than the other 2 sets.  ? Are the olds rods longer than the Buick?  The new rods, are hollow and don't look anything like the Rover/Buick ones I am use to. They have a ball on one end and a cup on the other.  The assembled heads have adjustable rocker arms which I assume are the old Volvo 1.55 rocker arms.  Read about people running them years ago, but never actually seen them.  Here is a picture of one of those heads.  I can take a better picture if someone wants.

I've heard the Olds engines oil through the pushrod, but I've never actually seen one, together or apart.

Here's a thread on this issue that was on the MGE forum.
http://www.mgexp.com/phorum/read.php?40,3209282,3209282#msg-3209282
You'll note the schematic that I posted which came from my '61 Olds factory service manual.

Ok, starting to make sense.  The front station pad in the head has a small steel tube that sticks out.  I thought that was a roll pin or locating dowel.  Now I'm guessing its an oil passage.  These Olds engines are so much different than the Buick/Rover 215s.  Also noticed I have two different Olds heads.  One set is stamped with an S.  My buddy says that stands for some rare high compression version.  11 to 1 or something like that.

Some info on BOP ID numbering.
http://www.britishv8.org/articles/gm-215-engine-identification.htm

CC the combustion chamber Todd. That will tell you which castings you have. There were three, the common 2bbl, and the scarce 4bb and Jetfire heads. Compression will depend on your pistons but the 2bbl heads have a larger combustion chamber than the other two, which are the same except for some minor casting differences, and are the same chamber size as the Buick heads. Oiling is through the block for all BOP and early R engines. Not sure about the later Rs. Those adjustable rockers are not common and a good find. Use the length pushrods that give you the best geometry.

The Olds intake ports are not quite as good due to the extra head bolt but give slightly better clamping, useful for boosted applications.

Jim

"The Olds intake ports are not quite as good due to the extra head bolt but give slightly better clamping, useful for boosted applications. "

Sorry, but that statement makes no sense.  Look at the Olds head in the last photo in the first post of this thread.  The "extra" bolt holes are the ones closest to the blue tarp.  They aren't even close to the intake ports.  The common bolt holes are much closer and those are the same on Buford and Rover heads.

Sorry, that S means it is for a 8.75:1 155hp version.

QuoteIf you check the stamped number on the front of the left head you can tell the comression ratio

If there is a S, SE, or SH in the stamped sequence, they are 8.75:1 compression ratio heads for a 155 hp motor

If there is an SG , the heads are to the 10.25:1 CR 185hp, or 10.75:1 CR 195hp

If there is an ST they were to the Turbo 215 from the Jetfire 10.25:1 CR

If you were to remove the heads there are casting numbers you can also use to ID your heads with the last numbers

If the last 3 digits are 534 you have the 38 cc combustion chamber heads which yeild a 10.75:1 CR. These came off the 63 F85 with 4 barrel and an automatic

If the last 2 are 82, you have the 43 cc chambers for a 10.25:1 CR of a 61-62 4 barrel motor, or a 63 with manual trans

And if the last 3 are 746 you have the 51 cc chambers and a 8.75:1 CR off any 61-63 with a 2 bbl carb

The 10.75 or 10.25:1 heads are the best for a performance oriented motor

http://classicoldsmobile.com/forums/small-blocks/15370-215-aluminum-dos-donts.html

There are 2 heads stamped S and 2 with no stamps, so its safe to assume They came from a 8.75 engine with a 2 barrel.  All four heads have the casting that ends in 746, so that seals it.  Comparing the built heads to the bare heads, I noticed that the pin I saw was only on the bare heads.  On the built heads, the pin has been machined out and the end of the rocker shaft has an oil fitting inserted into the heads.  Here is a picture, but not sure if you can make it out.  The more I look at these built heads the more I think they will only work on a dry sump build.  I also measured the valves as best I could.  Came up with 1.36" and 1.57" or something real close to that.  So walk me thru the two sets of Buick heads.  They are fully assembled and still covered in 50 year old grease, but at least they look familiar to me.  Any number I should look for on them.  The project came with two 4 barrel intakes and one 2 barrel.  After the Olds info, I can only assume the two 4 barrels were off of the Buicks.  There is also a brand new Edelbrock intake and a brand new Holly 390 still in boxes.  

Joe, on the Olds heads the extra head bolt gives even clamping around the cylinder, in six places rather than 4. So somewhat better sealing. The use of 5 bolts has been found to cock the head on the head gasket, contributing to leaks and modern practice is to do no more than snug the bottom (5th) bolts down if they are used at all. The 6th bolt required the intake runners to be modified so that the bolts do not break out into the intake runners and the resulting geometry was just not quite as good. Perfectly usable, but for a high performance N/A application the other heads flow a bit better.

IIRC rocker oiling was with the oil coming up through the pedestal around the front head bolt to the rocker shaft.

The Olds 2bbl heads can be used, if a flat top piston with no dish is installed at something close to zero deck. You'd have to calculate the CR with that configuration, I can't tell you what it is. What I can tell you is that the 300 heads have large chambers also. I believe they are around 51, 54, I'd have to look. And with those a 350 cid 340 with .050" squish needs a 10cc dish for a 10.6 CR. I think the TA heads are around that volume also though again I'd have to look. If so, it would make an engine built for the 2bbl Olds heads able to accept the 300 or TA heads without changing the pistons. Worth thinking about maybe.

Jim