shovel cases panheads amd no oil to the heads

[tom1218]

i have shovel cases with panheads can i drill the cases to get the oil to the cyclinder heads. i need the oil to go in to the cyclinders to the heads

[fourthgear]

All Shovels were over head oilers, it would probably be easier to have the Pan heads set up for over head oiling , than drill the cases . If you have Shovel cases , there is a fitting for the over head oil lines to the heads , it went from the case straight up to the rear head and crossed over from the rear head to the front . They make a line set up that feeds both heads from the same fitting now, which would work for the altered Pan heads. Some feed them from the tappet strainer , some from the oil pressure sending unit location .

[tom1218]

so i should have the heads drilled for the oil and plug the holes in the heads

[fourthgear]

Call or e-mail Flow masters , they will have info on what needs to be done and at what cost and I'm sure Head Hog will do it ,but has a waiting list , but ya never know . The holes that are already in the head mean nothing if there is no where for the oil to go , it will stop at the case ( you say you have Shovel cases , right ), because there is no where else for it to go, does not matter what gasket type you are using ( Pan /Shovel )

The heads should be done by some one who has a lot of experience in doing it . You can still use the heads for a Panhead with them set up for over head oiling ( some prefer over head oiling , Hd. did switch to it in 63 )and if ya ever want to go back to Shovel , Heads , the cases are not altered.

[1964 pan]

tom1218. According to how big a city you live in. Find a machine shop. It is not very difficult for a good machinist to drill a intersecting hole to the hole going to the intake rocker blocks. Then clearance and tap for a fitting. A friend of mine that is a machinist did mine. He had never even seen a panhead head, much less worked on one. And he did a excellent job. Then you can rig up the tee plumbing to get the oil to the heads. That is what I did on a early set of pan heads. Back again to an old, old ,old Easy Riders issue. There was a article in it that showed how to do it. That is were I first found out about it. Good luck

[1964 pan]

tom1218.I tried to take a picture of where the line goes in to the front head on the modified early heads. My picture taking ain't good. Hope this helps. I'm sorry. If you can make it out the line goes in pretty much at the top of the head. I'll try and find that article. I ain't guaranteeing nothing. If you are going to run those early heads on that late model bottom the head conversion is the way to go. I believe. Later.

[Cotten]

And just think!

You will have only spent a couple of hundred dollars to depreciate your vintage hardware by several hundred dollars.

Who cares.

....Cotten

[1964 pan]

Mr.Cotten,Sir. Do I detect a hint of sarcasm there? I am not suggesting everyone grab their drill and run out to the shop or garage and wiley niley start drilling holes in their heads for no reason what so ever. I did what I had to do and that is my business. Tom1218 has a similar problem. I offered one option for him to fix the problem. He is grown up. He can do what he wants. If you have any suggestions I am sure Tom1218 would be glad to hear them. Other wise he has some "vintage" trot line weights. In other words. He can not use what he has as it is. God bless.+

[Cotten]

I've drilled early heads for overhead oiling myself: Back when Panhead cores weren't worth wasting shelf space.

For some reason, un-boogered Panhead cores mean a lot more now.
What seems like good advice today could be quite regretfull tomorrow, and this thread needed that perspective.

But like I said: Who cares?

....Cotten

[fourthgear]

Did you notice he has a SHOVEL bottom and Pan Heads , He may not care if it a vintage machine or not . I offered a easy solution , the drilling of the cases will be much more of a risk if not done perfectly correct and then you will have ruined a another vintage part , yes shovels are vintage too.

I CARE !

[Cotten]

Drilling the cases won't show on the outside, thus will not depreciate the value of the hardware to lovers of vintage machines, nor to future generations. If the job is botched, take it to a TIGmeister and start over.

Why not tap into repop cylinders?
Stainless tubes could easily be silver-soldered into the bases to give a much cleaner plumbing approach. The heads don't need firehoses to feed them.

Frankly, a pair of decent Pan heads could probably be traded for shovelheads plus cash.

....Cotten

[fourthgear]

Well , after seeing first hand what Head Hog can do to restore Pan heads to OEM spec's , you could probably make a Pan , head look like Swiss cheese and he could make it like it was never altered , so a tig welder any where will work . Its just a matter of his being a Shovel bottom , I'm assuming its a cone type Shovel or he would have mentioned it had a generator bottom or a gear type cam set up . Have you or any one you know ever drilled a cone type Shovel out to make it a thru cylinder type oiling system ?I'm sure it can be done , but that type of case was not designed to be fitted with internal oil passages .

Fact is ,the over head oiling of the heads are the most cost effective and safest course to take and it can be reversed easily for all the die hard dinosaur fans out there .Wait, HD did change over to over head oiling in all big twins from 1963 up , go figure .

[tom1218]

thanks fourthgear for the info. my case is setup for generator and it also has on the front cylinder a casting for the oil feed and 1/4'' hole started in the case. the rear cylinder doesn't have the casting or any hole.

[fourthgear]

Well, now ,with a generator bottom , a good machinist that has done it before , can drill your cases out for oil passages . It still will be less expensive to do the heads , its your call.,( some drill cases out for using hydraulic lifters in older Pan cases , mine were done , but I don't know who did it and I had to have it repaired , because the were not done right .)