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Pulled the motor from the F3 I just bought and it has 2 spun rod bearings. Besides the rod big end surfaces being a little damaged the cap 'studs' are questionable. They were not tight when I removed them so I think they are stretched and the theads don't feel that nice. Does anyone have 2 serviceable connecting rods they would be willing to sell me? I'm going to do an on line search but I figured that the community here is by far the best source for these parts. Thanks in advance.
Make sure you get 0BA rods, that have the oil hole in the big end to spray the cylinders and cam.
Those in the ebay auction look real suspect. The pistons appear to have been hammered out of the bores, entirely possible the rods were damaged in the process. Rusty, too.
Check that. The rods have holes and the bearings too although tough to see as the material is 'smeared'. I will investigate the engine more tomorrow. It was obviously recently rebuilt with some new and a mix of old parts. At least one if not both of the damaged rods are not original. The heads are also not the same I have a truck head on one side and a car head on the other. More questions on that later. Someone spent a lot of money on this truck but appears to have had more than a few 'oversights' along the way.
Rods I have are just marked 8BA. Bearings weren't spun but there is nothing special about them. Just came out of a flatty I bought when I thought I was in the mood to build one.
Rods I have are just marked 8BA. Bearings weren't spun but there is nothing special about them. Just came out of a flatty I bought when I thought I was in the mood to build one.
Rods I have are just marked 8BA. Bearings weren't spun but there is nothing special about them. Just came out of a flatty I bought when I thought I was in the mood to build one.
If you look close at the pic, that rod is also stamped 8BA. They didn't change the rods, just started drilling the holes. Henry wasn't the type to fritter away money if he didn't have to.
Yes they have an oil hole. I don't really know anything about flatties. Are there left and right bank rods? I marked them because I didn't know. I bought a fancy Edelbrock two carb intake and a complete valve kit. That was as far as it went. My 53 already has an engine.
Well, here's what I found in investigating further...
From a pre-eminent flathead builder: "There are various and conflicting Shop Manual instructions. The squirt holes should be aimed at the camshaft when properly installed."
From "38Coupe" on here: "Per the 1953 Ford Truck Shop Manual (page 60 if someone has a copy they can scan and post a picture of) the orientation is given by the oil squirt hole. The manual says "position oil squirt hole on same side as piston DOT for number 5-6-7-8 cylinders" and "position oil squirt hole on side opposite piston DOT for number 1-2-3-4 cylinders". The piston DOT goes toward the front of the engine. Cylinders 1-2-3-4 are the passenger side, and 5-6-7-8 are the driver side."
And this, from the Canadian Merc flathead manual:
This is from the 49-51 Manual:
So the rods are the same, but installed 180 deg on one bank compared to the other. And the guru is correct, there are conflicting instructions in the manuals...
Yes they have an oil hole. I don't really know anything about flatties. Are there left and right bank rods? I marked them because I didn't know. I bought a fancy Edelbrock two carb intake and a complete valve kit. That was as far as it went. My 53 already has an engine.
Sent you a PM. If the rods are serviceable let me know what you want for them.
Ross, since we are having flat head rod trivia. I found a couple very experienced guys on the Ford Barn who said hole orientation didn't matter much in their opinion. Hole was just there to splash some oil up on the camshaft. I like to follow the engine rules 1000%, but I just thought it interesting. I guess the older flatty engines had holes and then the 8BA briefly did not for whatever reason.
Do you know if the pistons come off the rods easily? I see they have retaining rings but everything is varnished up of course so if they were full floating they aren't right now. I'm not going to beat on anything before I send them to Mike but they would ship cheaper disassembled.
Just measured the crank and it looks like the one rod journal will need grinding .040 under. Van Pelt shows they have bearing shells that size so I think I will be in good shape.
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