"Shield" on left side rockers

Read a post by Steamer a while ago asking about this. My engine has never been opened and is still as the factory put it together. Pulled the valve covers and discovered the shield is under the PCV valve not the oil port as he was told. The flat area between the rockers is directly under the valve and appears to catch crud falling out of the valve as some was there, not much, only 26K miles, but enough to justify its placement. Engine is super clean, no crud in oil drains or the pan(replacing gasket there too). Just thought enquiring minds might want to know.:v6:

 

Which side is your oil fill plug on, alot of them are on the wrong side.

 

Left side between #3 and #5 valve sets. If the "shield" was there I don't think you could get an oil spout in to fill it. It would totally cover the oil fill port.:v6:

 

My shield was exactly under the oil fill spout, and yes you can fill it fine and not pour oil down the valve.

 

I'm just saying Mike, this engine is exactly like it came from the factory, its never had the valve covers off before. Perhaps this needs more research because I can see no need for it to be under the oil fill port but it aligns perfectly w/ the PCV valve and the flat area is a very good crud trap.:v6:

 

Mine was also just like it came from the factory, like I said I was always told it was to keep from pouring oil down the valve stem when adding it. These motors do not have valve seals from the factory, never did. If you pour oil over the top of a valve, it just runs down the guide and into the motor on startup.

 

Most if not all engines from that era did not have valve seals. They used knurled valve guides to prevent oil from going down the valve shaft. The knurling allowed engine makers to cut approximately 1/2 the valve guide to valve shaft clearance and keep oil from traveling down the shafts. Admittedly this is the first buick v6 of that era I've been in, but I've been in plenty of GM v8s and straight 6s of the time and none of them had this shield to prevent oil from going down the valve shafts, in fact the way oil was put in cars back then would have been quite the messy business w/ it in the way. Cans and punch in pour spouts tended to leak unless stuck in the valve cover and turned to vertical.:v6:

 

I can do it that way. Chevy v8's would not need them as you put oil in thru the fill spout, at least alot of them. Knurling guides was not how the heads came from the factory, that was how you serviced worn ones. I have had it done several times. Buick heads of that era were not knurled, just reamed with clearance. Heck you can take the valve covers off these motors while its running and not get oil on anything.

Oh, and I still have 2 cardboard quart cans of Kendall superb in the garage and my old pour spout, heck I even have the screw on one for my grandads old glass oil fill bottle and 2 bottles.

 

Mike, after looking at the pics I took before I took mine apart this week, I see that the oil fill is to the front on the right side. The shield in my case then is under a emissions port of some kind........... I really gotta sit down one of these days and read the FSM so I can learn to ID some of this new-fangled stuff, heh-heh! In my previous reply I think I was looking at the cover down-side up..... or something.