I don't see why not. A milder version would live better. Mine eventually pulled the deck away from the crankcase. But I was running 9 to 1 comperssion and plenty of RPMs. It was a pretty stright foward conversion.
Mr Fox, everything you do is interesting & impressive. I wish I was a 'rich fox' but I'm just a poor goose. Thanks for all the lateral inspiration, keep up the great work.
A quick update on my progress with the SR-D Winfield. Last month I reported that it was icing pretty bad, but that was on a very cold and damp night. I've since put on a few hundred miles, including a nice long run out to Juarez Traditional Fabrication, and it would appear that all is well and it's not icing in the warmer weather. It runs a lot stronger than the old SR-B and best of all I'm getting better gas mileage. Still a little fine tuning to go but I'm getting there. For those that don't know, Juarez Traditional Fabrication is a hot rod fabrication shop run by Marco "Juarez" Warren. He's not yet thirty but already has the reputation of being the man to take your car too. Shame he's over here in England, I just know you guys would love his place. No website yet but you can see and read about him on www.flatheadmeltdown.com.
Mr Fox Your post on the Y block head on a Plymouth 4 cylinder block has piqued my interest. Could you tell us more about this engine?
It's been pretty well covered before. 8 of the ten head bolt holes on the Ford head will work with the Plymouth block with some fudgeing. The other two I drilled into the deck, installed larger pipe plugs to spread the load, and drilled the pipe plugs for the studs. The unused Plymouth head bolt holes and all water holes in the head and block were pluged with pipe plugs. Water was run into the end of the head out the other end into the end of the block and out the other end. Oil for the rockers went to a special made valve cover/rocker stand hold down stud that was drilled, threaded and given a 37 degree taper for a -4 line run from the oil pressure port. I drilled out the valve guides for clearance for the pushrods which were made for this use. A light cleanup ream to .625 and new International Harverster "Red Head" lifters were used. I made a solid copper head gasket to fit. With flat top pistons and a ) deck hight it had about 9 to 1 cr. Stock cam was reground, I used a Pinto distrbuter. The Ply has full pressure oiling from the factory. I had the block honed to use Allis-Chalmbers main bearings and used SBC rod bearings for a 2 inch pin.
No kidding? I didn't realize Marco had opened his own place - wasn't he working at NAMCO before? Have to look him up when I get back...
Originally Posted by RichFox It's a non-Ford, Dodge type banger, but I like it. In the early 50's my dad built and raced a midget with a vintage Chrysler 4 engine. It was sleeved-down and fitted with 'modern' cam-ground pistons and polished con-rods. It was strong, fast & reliable. The gearbox and multi-plate clutch were '28 Ford. Drive shaft & rear axle were 'T'.
For the A ford people, this is probably my #1 favorite vintage midget shot. I need an avatar, I'll try to shrink this one. Shoot, look at that, it works.!!!!
Just Plain Bill said he used "stressproof". What did you use? Maybe I missed it, but I assume it is full pressure oiling? Very neat, strong, setup. Any other info would be great.
I used plain 1018 steel. A guy gave me a 10 inch dia. piece that he had torch cut out of the center of a 4 inch thick round that he was making some fixture from. Took me a day and a half to find a way to cut it up in my little Jet saw. The Dodge came with pressure oil to the cam only. Mains were drip, rods splash. The caps will be drilled and oil lines routed to them from a Barns external wet sump oil pump. Same as on the Plymouth. HRM had a nice artical in the March issue on Pete Hendrickson's Dodge roadster.....Neat midget.
I used te stress proof on the "A" but it wasn't large enough for the "B" mains so I used 2" square 1018 . This is the "A" http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2143144980049181497NYTwOf and these are for the "B" http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2322336960049181497UINYWq
your running the pressure to the underside of the cap? is there any potential oil wedge issue with running the pressure in from the bottom vs. coming in from the top?
Don't know. But I will have ample oil transfer grove in the insert to get oil to the whole bearing. I guess it will come out where ever it can. The block is kind of thin and I don't want to be drilling any more holes in it. plenty on material in the caps.
I had an "experienced" driver that drove my car a few years back and I told him to wind it up and dump the clutch when he saw the green light. Well he floor boarded it from the time he was staged until the light turned green. I have no idea how many RPM's he was turning but the pressure oiling system with the oil coming in the top must have worked as the engine is still running and turned 16.26 at 84 MPH.
My front & centre mains are fed to the underside too. Not had any issues so far. Got a pic somewhere... Yup, here goes. Rear main is from above.
the reason I asked, is that I went to a hell of alot of work to bend the tubing to come in from the top of the mains (through the original oil inlet) on my last T motor. It would be loads easier to come in though the main caps instead.
While feeding through the caps is easier to set up, and does work, feeding the unloaded side of the bearing (the top, in the case of a main) is better from a lubrication standpoint, and recommended in engineering texts. An easy way to have the best of both worlds if using inserts, is to feed the cap, but put a groove in the block bore so that the oil can run around the outside of the insert to the insert hole, installed in the upper half. A small- probably insignificant- plus is that the extra oil passage helps to remove heat from the bearing insert. Herb Kephart
I saw a photo of an "A" engine from "Speedy Bills" museum with the oil feed going in the side of the block. I think I will do my next "A" that way. My Winfield "A" is plumbed using Urb Stairs method utilizing 1/4" copper inside the existing main tubes. Current dream engine is one of those new "A" counterbalanced cranks with the new one piece main inserts and a set of the one piece insert "A" rods but I have read of problems drilling the new cranks for pressure. Any comments on this or is it just a rumor? The engine would be for the street so dip and splash would probably suffice. I'm afraid a 5/16" stroker would be on a short fuse for a street engine.
Since the # 1, 3, and 5 mains are so wide they take three inserts to make the width and # 2 and 4 use two inserts I have a lot of area in the bearing shells for oil flow. I have every confidence that the oil will find the path of least restance on it's own.
Bill, I have asked about the "new" Burlington couterbalenced cranks too. I have also been told that they are hard to drill for preasure too. I would like to run one too. I wish that he would make a B crank too. I don't know about the life of a 5/16" stroked A, but I have plenty of experience with a 3/8" stroke on the street.
Hi Russ....Did you ever get in touch with Roy Creel about your Rutherford?.....Rich..Is there a detailed description of the Yblock Plymouth on here somewhere? I have tried a search but came up empty.....
yep but he did not have much information so i am no futher ahead on the various rutherford products and their clones
I just gave about the most detailed description of the Y block Ply that I ever have. Feel free to PM me with any questions and I'll try to answer them. The first answer is "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
Have you tried Vic King? He used to own the patterns. There is a guy in the 4 ever 4 that lives in Glendora or Monrovia that supposedly had several Rutherford heads. I have some Austin Healy rocker arms that some were using on Cragars do you think they might work? I also have some blank Al. rocker arm stands.
I have a "B" block setting out here that I'm looking at and I think I would prefer to go with the "A" block. The valve "pockets" are a lot smaller on the "B" than the "A" I think more could be done with the "A" block. I'm going to see if I can go as far in the "B" as I can In the "A". In the "B" the pockets are close in size to the valve seat dia. but the "A" opens up more under the seat. I have a cutter ground as described by George Riley that he recommends for the exhaust. It is 1.625 with a 70 degree lead. I opened the area under the valve seats to 1 .562 and could still go more on my Winfield flat head "A". I have a Winfield head that has enough room for 2" valves, the old guy I got it from said he ran it with 1.875 intakes but some one has milled it .200. We speak of 1.7 and 1.625 valves but what is the actual dia. of the valve opening? Wayne Atkinson (not sure of spelling) once cut an "A" block up and ran flow test's on it. The results are in an old issue of S O S S
Been meaning to ask this on here for a while... now that my '31 A P\U is partially dissassembled, it seems like a good idea. I'm having trouble with mt clutch when I put the truck into reverse. When I let out on the clutch it chatters and jerks. It dosen't happen in the forward gears. A friend told me there might be some contamination on the clutch and to park the rear bumper up against a tree and slip the clutch to "clean things up a bit" - sounds a little drastic to me. I cleaned the heck out of the entire assembly before I reassembled it. Any ideas?
Thought you guys might be interested in my "banger" project. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=349039 I just found this thread! Everything looks great! Can't wait to get mine finished!!
Thought I'd share some progress pictures. The engine is almost done. The Rajo head is complete and ready to go. Hope to fire it up by the end of May!
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