Fred's Page

Hello one and all,

I would like to begin with a thank you to Matt Thurston, for the excellent job he did on the Feb. 11th. Tour. If you didn’t make this tour, anybody with an interest in bodywork missed a great chance to see how the professionals get the job done. Thanks again, Matt.

Speaking of tours, are all you little oil drop buddies ready to resume our trip through “Henry’s masterpiece”? The answer to last month’s trick question of, do we have oil pressure yet?, is no, but then you knew that, didn’t you? The reason we don’t have oil pressure, is that we haven’t filled the oil system up yet. The pump down in the pan is gobbling up more buddies, shoving them into the passageways through out the engine, & until all this gets filled up with oil, the pressure is pretty much “zip”. This makes a pretty good argument for not starting your engine with your foot on the floor.

O.K. we got to, and past the fuel pump area last month. And now we are in an approx. 3/8 in. metal tube going straight forward toward the front of the engine in the “valley”. The “valley” refers to the large space under the intake manifold, between the cylinder banks. This area houses the fuel pump push rods at the rear of the engine. Also lining the walls of each side are 16 valve stems, tops of 16 valve lifters, bottoms of the valve guides, & 16 valve springs. And in addition, associated washers & keepers that hold the valve assembly’s together. (Ever hear the term “dropped a valve”?) That’s what happens when the “keepers” get loose & don’t hold the valve assembly together any longer. You’re hate’n life when that happens.

Merrily we are flowing along through the tube, having quite a conversation with our oil drop buddy about how we had successfully gotten past Henry’ sludge trap. Suddenly my buddy just flat disappears, like magic. Where the heck did he go? Well too late now, all those oil drops are being pushed from behind & no way to get back to look for him (or her as the case might be) don’t want to be called sexist, you know! Let’s see what has happened to him /her. Halfway up that tube is about a ¼ in. hole that is in alignment with a hole in the block casting. Directly under that is the center cam bearing with a hole that must be aligned so that the oil can flow to a groove around the center of the cam bearing journal. This grove provides a passageway for the oil to move around the rotating camshaft. It continues straight down through a corresponding hole in the bottom side of the cam bearing & block, to then move oil downward to the center main bearing for the crankshaft. Now this bearing is way bigger than the cam bearing & is in 2 pieces. Unlike the camshaft that is inserted from the front of the block, the crankshaft is laid into place & then the main caps are laid over the exposed ½ of the main journal of the crank shaft. Unlike the camshaft the passageway for oil is provided by a grove around the inside center of the main bearing. The main bearings are installed by finger pressure in the block & cap before the crank is laid in. This is probably a good place to mention that up until about mid 1936, the main bearings were babbit & had to be poured into place. This was a complicated process & in today’s vernacular “a pain in the ass”. Today, people who are restoring old cars, can use a late 1936 engine with the water pumps on the head, but use the insert bearings. These blocks are scarce & highly prized. In 1937 they moved the water pump off the head, & down on the block. The late ’36 engine can be identified by a ‘L B’ stamped on the intake manifold machined surface at the front left side of the block. Some say it stands for “loose bearing”, others say “large bearing”. I don’t know for sure.

On the center main journal in alignment with the oil supply groove in the bearing, are 2 holes drilled in the crank, 180 degrees from each other. Each of these holes runs up the crank arm to the rod journals & supply oil pressure to the rod bearings. Another change on the 8BA engine (‘49-’53) was all F/H V-8’s up until ’49, shared 2 rods to 1 set of rod bearings. The bearing was made up into 2 halves that covered the entire engine crank throw bearing surface with babbit on both sides of a steel shell. In effect both sides of the bearing protected the crank on the inner side & the rod bearing surface on the outer side. These are called floating bearings. It is said they can be advantageous, because the speed at which the metal surfaces are moving past one another, cushioned by the oil film, is cut down if working properly. Do we now have oil pressure?

Keep it right side up. Fred

Early Ford V-8 Club of America Sacramento Regional Group #4

Fred's Page