Hey Guys and Gals, I spent the day modifying my block to be like the other engines that were recently sold. When I upgraded the oiling system and made this modification below all of my bearing issues went away. I am thinking now that I have an engine with a larger stroke getting oil to the mains and rods is even more important. I am going to attach some pictures. Let me know what you think!
Please excuse my ignorance...... Do you drill extra holes in your bearings then too? Cool jig for the die grinder by the way. :TU:
That's what I was thinking too! John, TA did a similar mod on my block when I had the girdle installed. Not as far out from the center, but similar.
Rick, Yes, there are two additional holes in the bearings. I was told this modification should supply 50% more oil to the rod journals. Adam, The idea for this mod came from Mike. I purchased a set of bearings from him and had him drill the holes where he thought they should be. I made the jig and machined the block myself. Take Care
Hey John can you give me some detail on what youre doing,I know of some oil modifications to the oil pump galley and cam to oil sending switch hole.Are you running a external oil line from the pump to the pan or just the basic set up. Thanks Bryan Fant
The first guy I ever saw do this was Bob Gillam (sp). We started doing this after we had seen it in one of his blocks and thought it was a great idea. I like your tool you made I think I will make one simlair to that but maybe with a pivot.ou: Never thought of it been doing it by hand.
John, when I had gotten my second stroker crank from moldex years ago, I called them up because it was not crossdrilled like the first one I had gotten. Whitey over at moldex told me they had stopped crossdrilling cranks and started doing the mods you have on your block, with the extra oil holes in the bearings and that would supply the extra oil for the rods. He told me the idea came out of Nascar. Last year at the PRI show, I was talking to some crank manufacturers about cross drilling vs not cross drilling, and apparently there can be some problems with cross drillled cranks actually sarving the rods for oil, they did agree that the added oiling in the saddles seemed to be the hot ticket. Jim Burek P.A.E. ENTERRPRISES
John I am trying to get this straight of what you did to your block. The picture shows a groove in the main saddle but also at the ends of the groove it appears to have extra holes there or is that just marks left from the machining process. How dee and wide did you make your grooves. this makes good sense. Thanks Rick
That is awesome, thanx for sharing it. It almost looks like some deep holes at the outer end of each groove. I'd love to read more details.
John This looks like a great idea. Whatever happened to the 360* grooved mains that KB used to sell? Does anybody offer them anymore? Seems like the same principal.
Thanks for posting this! I wish someone would post a complete list of oil mods by application, with details as to how they are done. For example, what mods should be done to a street, street strip, all out race, etc. What needs to be done when using a solid cam as opposed to hydraulic, etc. What bearings are you using, and how deep are the grooves?
Here's TA's offering: TA's 3/4 Groove Hi-Performance Main Bearing http://www.taperformance.com/extreme_duty_bearings.htm
Bryan, Please send me your phone number in an email again. I had a computer problem and lost a bunch of material including all of my saved emails. Rick, I take the bearings that already have the holes drilled in them and put them in the block. At this point I..... LIGHTLY... mark the center of the hole with a center punch. After the all holes are marked I drill a hole (or oil reservoir) where I made the marks. Then I put a groove from reservoir to reservoir with the tooling. The groove ends up being about .125 wide and .100 deep. RH, From what I have heard most people dont use the fully grooved bearings anymore because you lose to much surface area of the crank to the bearing. I am thinking it also kind of acts like a tire on wet pavement. The tire pushes the water away through the tread so the outer surface of the tire can contact the ground. Whereas if that was flat surfaced tire it would just float on the water. Steve, You and your dad just need to come over and I will show you all of the mods that I do to my blocks. Some you may need some you may not. Who knows... There may also be some oil mods out there that others do that will help you also. Let me know when you want to come over. Tommy, That is a great new bearing offered by T/A and others. I think its the best of both worlds. I haven't seen this bearing personally but it would be a better bearing if they made the size of the oil groove LARGER. If you compare our BB Buick bearing to a Chevy or Oldsmobile you will find the actual oil groove to be about 1/2 the size of the others. Therefore physically unable to carry the volume of oil needed. So... which is the best bearing??? I dont know... I have found a set of the old Vandervell bearings that I will be using in my engine. I have heard they are the best. But... I have never really had a main bearing problem. Hope this helps guys!!
I would think that more-than-likely John not only oils from the typical front of the block after the pump but also the rear. I tend to think this equalizes the pressure from front to back regardless of the pump's location then. Taking pressure readings from the rear as well as the front has shown this to be true for me!:TU: I too have not had any main bearing problems in the past but rod problems....well we won't talk about that!ou: I plan on implementing John's modifications he has been so kind to share with us here in the very near future.:Smarty: Happy New Year to all...
John do you have a pic of the bearings with the holes in them? Are they grooved? Are the holes in the ends or resevoirs as you called them the same size as the bearing holes and how deep are they? This looks like one heck of good deal. Thanks Rick
