*Bookmarked* for later response (as if I needed a bloody bookmark? LOL)
I’ll need to come back a bit later today (8:00 am Eastern time now), but I’ll leave you with a brief story about my Ford mentor, a fella named ‘Jay’ who looked a bit like Buddy Holly right down to the horn rimmed glasses and he could do to engines what Buddy Holly did for Rock n’ Roll...
I remember an occasion when Jay had recently installed a fresh engine into a Galaxie fastback of his, and when he started it up for the first time, he immediately noticed that there was no oil feeding the rocker arms. He determined the cause to be a cam bearing that had been installed incorrectly by the local machine shop and was actually blocking the oil passage that fed oil to the rocker arm shaft assemblies.
SO, what to do? pull the entire engine out, diassemble it, take it back to the machine shop? NO! (was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbour? ;)
Jay took the rocker arm shaft assemblies off, removed the radiator, water pump, timing chain cover, and timing gears/chain, pulled the camshaft out of the block (the Galaxies were unique in that if you trimmed away a small portion of a bracket that secured the middle portion of the front grille there was JUST enough clearance to pull the camshaft out of the block).
Then he proceeded to take a long-ass drill bit and ran it down the oil gallery from the rocker arm shaft stand all the way to where that errant cam bearing was blocking the passage, drilled right THROUGH the bearing, then proceeded to use an emery cloth to burnish the edges of the new oil passage hole in that bearing, poured about a pint of kerosene through that oil gallery then buttoned everything back up. Drained out the straight 30W oil. Poured in a super light 5W-20 or something close to vegetable oil. Fired that rascal up, oil began pumping up to the rockers like it was supposed to. Ran the engine less than a minute, shut it down, drained out that super light oil, poured in fresh 30W oil plus a can of good ol’ STP “The Racer’s Edge” and that damn engine ran for YEARS. How the filings and aluminum bearing dust evaded the main and rod bearings, I ponder to this day.
I told Jay, “nobody else on this planet could have gotten away with that” and he said “what’s the worst that could have happened? I would have had to tear the engine apart anyhow, and as it turned out: I didn’t.”
Hard to argue with logic like that. LOL
HA!!!!
You're right, mk.
I'm truly floored some dork hasn't told us not to "Get a garage!" by now. LOL!
Since the thread's been pronounced dead & buried simply look for the fresh dirt. LOL
Just hoping you've either cracked the uCrap nut, or are close. No way to live a Friday at our vintage, y'know? ;^)
"I’ll need to come back a bit later today (8:00 am Eastern time now), but I’ll leave you with a brief story about my Ford mentor, a fella named ‘Jay’ who looked a bit like Buddy Holly right down to the horn rimmed glasses and he could do to engines what Buddy Holly did for Rock n’ Roll..."
Black horn rimmed glasses, huh.
OK got-tit, *instant* image conjured in mind's eye. {g}
"I remember an occasion when Jay had recently installed a fresh engine into a Galaxie fastback of his, and when he started it up for the first time, he immediately noticed that there was no oil feeding the rocker arms."
Wow. Goes to show how well built the assembly was, mk.
Try running a modern IC engine today minus lubrication and it's *shot* in mere seconds.
"He determined the cause to be a cam bearing that had been installed incorrectly by the local machine shop and was actually blocking the oil passage that fed oil to the rocker arm shaft assemblies."
The man understood the inner design as well as the guys at Ford who designed it. Don't make 'em like that, anymore.
"SO, what to do? pull the entire engine out, diassemble it, take it back to the machine shop? NO! (was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbour?"
HA!
"Jay took the rocker arm shaft assemblies off, removed the radiator, water pump, timing chain cover, and timing gears/chain, pulled the camshaft out of the block (the Galaxies were unique in that if you trimmed away a small portion of a bracket that secured the middle portion of the front grille there was JUST enough clearance to pull the camshaft out of the block)."
UNREAL!!
What a trick in time savings alone, never mind if [it] worked or not. The man took the easiest, cheapest route FIRST.
Either Jay had one helluva mentor himself, or it's that mother thing you mentioned way back. ;^)
Either way a crying shame how America used to produce his kind of astonishing ingenuity. Creative thinking quite literally defining the word, "Creative". In little more than one generation America permitted the tradition to *evaporate*. I'd say we're gonna pay for that colossal mistake, in a myriad of ways too, mk; but, methinks we're already paying. I digress...
"Then he proceeded to take a long-ass drill bit and ran it down the oil gallery from the rocker arm shaft stand all the way to where that errant cam bearing was blocking the passage, drilled right THROUGH the bearing, then proceeded to use an emery cloth to burnish the edges of the new oil passage hole in that bearing, poured about a pint of kerosene through that oil gallery then buttoned everything back up. Drained out the straight 30W oil. Poured in a super light 5W-20 or something close to vegetable oil. Fired that rascal up, oil began pumping up to the rockers like it was supposed to. Ran the engine less than a minute, shut it down, drained out that super light oil, poured in fresh 30W oil plus a can of good ol’ STP 'The Racer’s Edge' and that damn engine ran for YEARS."
Nothing less than stunning, or whateverinthehell they call it 'round here. LOL!! What a great story, inspiring & I'll dare say the most uplifting I'll hear this year. LOL
"How the filings and aluminum bearing dust evaded the main and rod bearings, I ponder to this day."
I've a similar, albeit shorter, story. Since time's at a premium I'll omit what set-up why this happened, and that's a shame. Was better than the tale.
Took the old man's Dart out one Saturday evening, "my" time. Used to get to the end of the street --well out of sight of the house-- & pull over. Pop off the cheap hub caps *&* the air cleaner. I am now officially cool. LOL
The Carter --IIRC-- "Thermoquad" made one hellova howl at WOT, a sound I simply cherished at my young testosterony age; and, since it'd be at WOT often & a lot, well, you see the logic to compliment the testosterone level. LOL
Wound up at a "rumble" (& therein lies the real tale), remember what one of those were, mk? Lots of people milling *around* after we'd finished having our *fun*.
Anyway hopped in the Dart to split, hit the key & *POP*.
Sat there stupefied wondering WTF.
*Then* smoke starts pouring out between the hood & fender gaps.
I freak-out, FLY out & open the hood -- we got us a gut bustin' fire, Clyde!! LOL
Before my pal could throw his Bomber jacket over the carb, another asshole throws a handful of sand/gravel into the carb he'd scooped off the ground!!
The nincompoop was gonna *smother* the fire.
Tried fishing as much of that crap outa the carb --after it'd sufficiently cooled LOL-- before trying to start'er. It did start. Ran fine. No apparent errant sound(s).
OK...get the sucker home like *pronto*.
Park it, go to sleep & forget it ever happened!! Gezzzz.
The next day, a Sunday, the old man's gonna go to the bakery for whatnots as he always did. I see him standing with his hat off scratching his head staring at the hood.
I think, "oh-oh".
On the "Hemi Red" hood, mk, the paint. It had a distinctly black tinge deep in the pigment. Old man asked me WTH that was. I looked down & shrugged.
And believe me or not but that Dart never ran better. I swear. LOL!!!
Yea my fiend, they STH don't build 'em like they used to, eh? :^)
"I told Jay, 'nobody else on this planet could have gotten away with that' and he said 'what’s the worst that could have happened? I would have had to tear the engine apart anyhow, and as it turned out: I didn’t.'"
Except me now, kind of. LOL
See mk, Jay's attitude is really what made the Republic great. Be it on the battlefield or in the shop, American males seemed hardwired to be resourceful, and frankly men in the truest sense of the word. :^)
Ol' Jay still with us mk? Building Ford race motors if he is? Still your pal?
"Hard to argue with logic like that."
Even harder to argue with the results. ;^) LOL
C'ya later my friend, have a good one & KA on that software!