Does she have a sister?

 

Sounds good, should purr like a kitten. I rebuilt my 8ba last year top to bottom....cost me $2000 plus in parts and machine work. I did all the assembly. It runs sweet though.
6 months later I find a good running engine for cheap. It never fails......

 

Yes, Two, but they are already taken. Today's question, does anybody know what the size or undersize of a 59 ab floating rod bearing that has the letter 'K' designation in center groove? Preceded by ford script and USA.

 

Looks like the K designation is for a .010 oversized rod bearing. A few things are not coming together with my plan...... Smart thing is turn the crank while it's sitting right here in front of my face. Not as much fun as a shoelace, but it just might be the right thing to do at this juncture. Guy on the mainland Dave Tatoms custom engines has 59 ab cranks turned on an exchange basis for 225.00.......

 

Do you have good 8BA crank and rods sitting around? Typically the 8BA bearings are lower cost than the floating stuff.

 

I have a set of 8ba rods, but already ordered the .010 floaters. Bob Selzam gets 125.00 for a set of ford nos floater rod bearings and 95.00 for mains. I see the rods often go for 200.00. After I was satisfied with the shoelace polish job as far as pits, scoring etc I had 2 journals that were a bit small for the .002 bearings and one main that was still too big for the .002 mains. I see some places where they sell them individually, but still they aren't totally round, and since the rest of this particular engine is a fresh rebuild I keep thinking it might be false economy to put a hand job crankshaft in an otherwise freshly machined engine, when a ground crank is available locally for 225.00. I have the 59ab that came out of last winter's '47 2 ton and the one that's coming out of this panel truck to hillbilly with for the next project. Last winter's had been through a flood, but I got it unstuck once out of the vehicle, and this years hasn't budged yet with everything I can throw at it. I can handle a really rough exterior but deep inside I want it to not only purr like a kitten, but be reliable for trips as well.

 

Got my new rod bearings today and I took a std crankshaft to Tatom's shop for a 10/10 regrind. I know it would have run well if I had just thrown in the new bearings, but just couldn't bear the possible remorse of not doing the right thing when the engine is on the stand and the crank is just a lift-out away from being right. While the crank is on the mainland I'm thinking about valves. I now have about 20 good intakes and only 3 good exhaust valves. I have about 20 or so guides that seem to fit well. Just need some more exhaust valves. I am using the one piece guides and the 8ba valves. Nobody on the island grinds them. The seats are as new in the block.

 

You have a PM about valves.

 

Thanks Scott! Any picture of the rotators you mentioned?

 

Here ya go....2 piece retainer(rotater) on the bottom.

 

So much to digest after a long day of work.... I think I have the rotators.

 

Yes, all my valve gear is for rotators. I have learned that the valves used with rotators have the retainer groove .20 down from the stem and the non rotator are at .24. This took a few valves out of the running but not too badly.

 

Gary, I have some rotator style valves(used) if you need them. If you are using adjustable lifters they should work fine. Do you have all of the valve springs?

 

Yes, adjustable lifters and lots of springs with nice black paint still on them. I used up my best valves on a '51 F3 about 15 years ago. I can pm my address to you and send you a check. Thanks!