Starting a rebuild…Update

[Beaus67]

An update on my rebuild progress, got a call from the machinist today, he was putting in the cam bearings when a problem arose. Apparently the bearing OD’s get increasingly larger while the ID’s stay constant. He started installing bearings in their respective locations when he found they pushed right though. A little investigation and he finds that the 1 bearing fits the 2 hole, the 2 bearing fits the 3 hole and so on. I asked him why someone would do that (assuming it was done during a previous rebuild) and he said he thought it came from Ford that way, he didn’t think this was done later but when the engine was originally assembled. I would be interested to know if anyone has ever heard of this before, hard to believe this is a one off. He’s going to be able to make it work by just doing the same thing the factory did but will need another bearing set because he has to have two # 1 bearings, and if I understood him correctly, has a few other modifications to make on other bearings. I took him the cam so he can confirm everything’s right (he will leave it installed) and got a chance to see everything. The good news is that the head came out fantastic, the chamber volumes are balanced at 52cc, new springs, valves are like new, guides, seats everything perfect and/or new. The 2V. Conversion looks very cool! Rotating assembly was balanced (I didn’t realize this included the harmonic balancer and torque plate) and the block was 0 decked and bored .030 over. When I disassembled the engine 2 of the pistons had broken rings but he tells me all of the pistons ring grooves where wallard out so none of the rings really fit correctly - it was time for pistons anyway. I should get everything back on Monday and I’ll post some pics next week as I get time. Next weekend is dad’s weekend at OSU so I won’t have time to start the rebuild in earnest until mid November but I am really looking forward to starting the assembly process at which time I’m sure I’ll have many questions and will post many pictures. Thanks again to my new friends on this forum, the information provided has been invaluable.

Bill

 

[Gene Fiore]

Sounds great! Good luck with the build.

 

[wsa111]

An update on my rebuild progress, got a call from the machinist today, he was putting in the cam bearings when a problem arose. Apparently the bearing OD’s get increasingly larger while the ID’s stay constant. He started installing bearings in their respective locations when he found they pushed right though. A little investigation and he finds that the 1 bearing fits the 2 hole, the 2 bearing fits the 3 hole and so on. I asked him why someone would do that (assuming it was done during a previous rebuild) and he said he thought it came from Ford that way, he didn’t think this was done later but when the engine was originally assembled. I would be interested to know if anyone has ever heard of this before, hard to believe this is a one off. He’s going to be able to make it work by just doing the same thing the factory did but will need another bearing set because he has to have two # 1 bearings, and if I understood him correctly, has a few other modifications to make on other bearings. I took him the cam so he can confirm everything’s right (he will leave it installed) and got a chance to see everything. The good news is that the head came out fantastic, the chamber volumes are balanced at 52cc, new springs, valves are like new, guides, seats everything perfect and/or new. The 2V. Conversion looks very cool! Rotating assembly was balanced (I didn’t realize this included the harmonic balancer and torque plate) and the block was 0 decked and bored .030 over. When I disassembled the engine 2 of the pistons had broken rings but he tells me all of the pistons ring grooves where wallard out so none of the rings really fit correctly - it was time for pistons anyway. I should get everything back on Monday and I’ll post some pics next week as I get time. Next weekend is dad’s weekend at OSU so I won’t have time to start the rebuild in earnest until mid November but I am really looking forward to starting the assembly process at which time I’m sure I’ll have many questions and will post many pictures. Thanks again to my new friends on this forum, the information provided has been invaluable.

Bill

The front cam bearing has a groove in it to supply extra oil to the timing gear thrust area. To my knowledge the rest of the cam bearing inserts are all the same size.

The 332.352,360,390,406,427 & 428 engines have cam bearings which have the different diameters. I think small at the back progressing to the largest toward the front. Bill