Pond cast iron block pics...

[blykins]

I think someone here or on the other forum was wanting some additional pictures of the Pond cast iron block. 







Pretty beefy, one of the heaviest blocks I've ever moved around.  I have a 460 block here that's been filled and I would equate it to that...probably 250-275 lbs.  This one is Gary Veres' block, for a Tunnel Port build.  It's a 4.310" build, which helped shed a little bit of weight over the as-cast bore size.

All mains are doweled and cross-bolted.  Billet caps.  Very similar to the aluminum blocks, without the ribbing in the lifter valley. 

[cbolze]

How does it oil the lifters? From the rear cam bearing?
Courtney.

[blykins]

The same as a hydraulic lifter side oiler block.  All the mains are fed off the side like a side oiler, the cam gets oiled off of the main bearings, and the rockers get fed like a side oiler, with a grooved cam journal.  Oil heads up diagonally up the front, runs down the center lifter valley passage, then splits off at the back and hits the lifters.

[afret]

The same as a hydraulic lifter side oiler block.  All the mains are fed off the side like a side oiler, the cam gets oiled off of the main bearings, and the rockers get fed like a side oiler, with a grooved cam journal.  Oil heads up diagonally up the front, runs down the center lifter valley passage, then splits off at the back and hits the lifters.

Might be just the photo but it looks like there is no plug for the top of the diagonal passage in the front so it looks undrilled?

[cbolze]

From the last picture shown, it looks like the top/center oil galley is not drilled from the front nor the diagonal galley that connects the top/center galley to the front number one main & cam journal oil galley. I can see the three galleys in the rear are tapped for screw in plugs, 2 for the lifter feeds and one for the center galley to the rear cam journal. The side oiler block I have is factory drilled for hydraulic lifters, the rear most oil galley is not drilled from the center galley to the rear cam journal (like a center oiler). Maybe a different picture angle would solve my curiosity? Definitely a serious block to start from, looks like a CH3NO2 fuel engine!  Thanks for your response.
Courtney.

[blykins]

Well, I see your point.

I went back and looked and it's definitely drilled from the filter adapter pad, diagonally up the front, and when I shine a pen light up that hole, I can see the beginning of the orifice for the other diagonal passage that would presumably go to the center lifter galley passage.  Now, it would be hard to make that passage if, like you say, there is no pipe plug in the valley for it, unless it was adapted into the mold. 

[blykins]

Alright, color me wrong, whatever color that is.

There is no passage there that goes up to the center lifter galley.  Lifters oil through the rear as you mentioned before.  Robert says that passage, if he drilled it, would run awfully close to water and he didn't want to chance it, plus it of course robs oil from the mains. 

[afret]

Alright, color me wrong, whatever color that is.

There is no passage there that goes up to the center lifter galley.  Lifters oil through the rear as you mentioned before.  Robert says that passage, if he drilled it, would run awfully close to water and he didn't want to chance it, plus it of course robs oil from the mains.

The Genesis has the front diagonal passage drilled but not the rear vertical passage for oil from the rear cam bearing for the lifters.  I wonder if it makes any difference taking oil for the lifters from the first cam bearing like the Genesis or the rear as in the Pond? 

[blykins]

If the front is plugged, it forces oil to the mains.  If the rear is plugged, it splits the oil to the mains and to the lifters.

[cbolze]

Ok, it oils the lifters from the rear. That makes oiling the mains/cams priority, 1 through 5, then the lifters. The top/center galley is drilled blind from the back of the block, deep enough to intersect the lifter feeds. Cam journals 2, 4 and 5 oil the rockers and lifters, respectively. Are the cam bearings grooved or is the block machined with the oil galley going around the cam bearings (for 2, 4 & 5) like a center oiler? Also are the cam bearings the same size OD or are they standard FE, different ODs front to rear? Thanks, Courtney.

[blykins]

Cam bearings are the same size, front to rear.   Cam tunnel is not grooved like a center oiler, except for the rear most cam bearing position in the block.