Ironhead oil return for stroker

[RicThompson]

Looking for objective comments from people on whether to go with external oil return lines or the traditional welding and lowering of oil returns in cylinders. What are benefits and drawbacks of each method and what is preferred?

[Iron Mike]

External can be directed out of the crankcase area - good?? less windage, however less oil on skirts. More cumbersome on exterior. Just some of the things Ive considered. Been done 1000 times both ways.
My $.02

[mrmom9r]

For a road bike use the internal drain for the skirt oiling.

[kitabel]

Drain oil from the heads is supposed to go to the skirts, a stroker only changes the exact location.

[RicThompson]

Let me throw this out there. The stock oiling system returns oil to the lower end by having it enter the cylinder below the piston rings. The crank pin gets a direct feed for the big end of the rods. All that oil must be scavenged out as you do not want the flywheels running in an oil bath. By routing the top end oil returns externally to the cam chest you reduce the amount of oil required to be scavenged. The oil that went to the rods is still there and the violent turbulence created by the pistons traveling up and down puts ample oil on the cylinder walls. Great for a full on race engine, who has experience with a street motor running this set up?

[Iron Mike]

Those are the points I had laid out in my first reply. i have had/have bikes with relocated holes in cyls, returned through timing plug hole and directley into cam chest all on "street" engines. No terrible consequences. However some peoples expectations or interpretations of street engine may vary. Mine are anything with a license plate qualifies for street engine. Anything can be a daily rider if you dont mind spending evenings in the shop.
***Disclaimer with respect. I would not discount any advice given by MrMom9R***

[RicThompson]

Iron Mike I'm the same way when it comes to interpretations of what is a street engine. My shop is open 24/7. That said I know several of you have an insurmountable amount of knowledge you are more than willing to share if the question is asked. I'm here to learn.

[Iron Mike]

In this classroom, my chair is pulled up right next to yours and my notebook is out!

[billeuze]

I can't say which is "better" to go with but I'll join this discussion because I will have external drains on the shovster I am building (which will be for street use only). In my case it is the way to go because my Trock cylinders do not have internal drains.

I don't know yet if I will drain them through the timing inspection hole (into the crankcase where it would normally go), or directly into the cam chest. Probably directly into the cam chest to be closer to the oil pump and to reduce the amount of oil getting in the way of the flywheels.

So, along with Iron Mike and RickTompson, I'm sitting here ready to take notes

[Nitro57xl]

Unless your rocker arm bushings are shot there is not a huge amount of oil returned, not enough to really matter as far as the flywheel chamber or pistons are concerned. Pans and shovels return the oil to one side of the piston instead of the skirts like an ironhead and their pistons don't wear differently?