I have a 500 cubic inch B1 drag engine that I'm having a problem with. It seems as though I'm not getting enough oil up to the heads because it is tearing up rocker arm adjusters and pushrod cups. r can get about 20 runs on it before I have problems with it. How can I get more oil to the heads?-Joe M. Via e-mail

Joe- It is very easy to increase the oil flow to the heads on Mopar B~ engines. Before I go into it, though, I want to point out a few things for you to look for before you go diving into the engine. The 81 heads use a 1.7 rocker arm ratio that is great for making power. Not only does it accelerate the valve faster, it also makes for a lot of valve lift. Most of the B1 stuff that 1 have run all run over. 750~ tift at the valve. Because of this, the valve springs have to be killers to handle the stress. This really puts a strain on the old fashioned ball-cup push rod deal. The only way for them to survive is to blast them with a bunch of oil. Make sure that the oil holes in the rocker aren't blocked. This can happen if you ever break an adjuster off and the pushrod cup hammers the bottom of the rocker. As a side note, this fact is true for all engines, not just 81 s. Check to be sure that the pushrod length is correct too. If the pushrods are too long, the cup may be too near the bottom of the rocker, which will not allow the flow of oil to spray into the cup. If the pushrods are too short, the oil spray may go right over the top of the cup. If you are only having problems with one specific rocker, check to be sure that these things are set up right. The 81 intake rocker has a huge offset because of the giant intake ports, which further places stress on the rocker-to¬pushrod interlace. For all of these reasons, I prefer to use rocker systems that use the ball on the pushrod and the cup in the rocker. These better units feature full pressure oiling right through the rocker for much better durability. Assuming that all of this stuff is on the money, you may just need more oil to the top to make things happy. The best way to get more oil up there is to groove the number 4 camshaft journal. These engines oil the heads via flow from this area of the block. The oil comes up from the main bearing and flows through the #4 cam journal when the passage in the camshaft lines up with the oil holes in the bearing. This engine does not have full-time head oiling, the oil only flows for a fraction of the cam's rotation. By cutting a small groove in the cam journal the engine will pump more oil to the top and hopefully solve your problems. It's best done on a lathe and I would say to go with about a .05a• x .050n groove to start. Don't overdo it here. Remember that in normal operation the oil is only flowing for a fraction of time. Now it will be flowing all of the time which is a huge increase right off the bat. Oil to the top is basically wasted oil since it will cause drag returning to the pan and is not being used to support the crank and rods. The B1 heads have poor drainback and need external oil drain lines for proper operation. t'm sure you already have them. Once the cam is installed you will have a lot more oil to the rockers which should solve the problem. If you have the chance to look at most Hemi cams, they usually have grooved #4 cam journals to keep up with the additional oil demand of their 4 shaft rocker system.