Been fighting an oil consumption issue for awhile now and finally got it figured out. If you are running roller rockers and have not restricted the oil flow to them and are using more oil than you would like, the linked post below may help.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...lve-seals.html

 

It shouldn't matter. That person, and maybe you, were likely running non or poorly baffled valve covers. I have rollers and oil pressure in my '68 that will throw the oil across the garage at idle, but it doesn't use any oil.

 

Your rockers will not have anything to do with oil consumption at all. The engine that is in my Nova now has 30,000 miles or so on it and I have full roller rockers on it and hold 42 psi at an idle after it has warmed up and over 75 at idle when cold and it uses no oil at all.

 

a common problem that many overlook are the drain holes at the lwr. front & rear of the cylinder heads . they become sludged up and don't let the oil drain back to the crankcase fast enough . excess oil builds up & = your problem . dis-connect battery ( important or you will burn fuseable links ) , remove valve covers , clean crud off head and open drain holes back to crankcase . i always blow compressed air into each ( 4 ) drain holes . be prepared for major crud cleaning , put lots of old newspapers under car to catch crud . run some eng. flush & change oil . i like to run eng. flush for 15-30 min. each time before i change my own oil . good luck .

 

I wasn't speaking in absolutes, just sharing the experience I had with my motor. While I appreciate your counter examples and I don't doubt them, I'm afraid they don't prove that the roller rockers weren't contributing to my problem. I only shared it because based on the people I have talked to, it seemed to be a fairly common thing when running them. Welding the tubes on could be looked at as improving the baffling, in my case it was the only thing that fixed the oil coming out. Maybe a better way to say it would be if your baffling has been compromised by running roller rockers, then this could be a fix.

It's a new motor, so there is no sludge.

 

I can't think of a single reason why I would want to restrict oil flow to the top half the valve train.

 

I wouldn't want to on a small block either....The stock setup works great. I have 1.6:1 full roller rockers on numerous engines, even stock ones and NONE of them have had increased oil consumption.

 

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On street engines it probably shouldn't be done, although some roller lifters do have built in flow restrictions, and Chevy has a mechanical tappet that reduces flow designed for use when roller rocker arms are installed. It's typically done on engines that spend the majority of their time at high RPM, where there is a tendancy to flood the upper end with oil.

 

I have an SB2. I run dry sump and valve spring oilers for increased oil flow up top. I'm not limiting oil flow over the valve springs when it's the only thing keeping them cool.