Pushrod ends

[Royce]

For the engine builders in the crowd... Does anyone use push rods with ball on both ends for a solid roller cam.. It seems to me that a touch too much clearance and the rocker end of the push rod could pop out of the adjuster screw cup.. As opposed to the cup on the push rod and the ball on the adjuster stud. There is just not a lot of engagement with the cup on the adjuster screw.

[blykins]

All the time.  On both FE's and some SBF stuff that I do with T&D shaft rockers. 

The shape of the cup on the rocker arm is like a bowl....it will guide in if necessary.  And if you actually look at it, most of your solid rollers run anywhere from .016 to .030" lash.  Even .030" isn't much.

[Royce]

Another question.. Most Ford BB roller lifters have a hole in the seat  to oil through the push rods.. If you keep the shaft oiling , does 16 oil bleeds end up reducing pressure, or pumping too much oil to the top end? With valve lash I would imagine you get a big spurt from the lifter cup every time the cam is on the heel, flooding the valley with oil?

[KMcCullah]

I noticed this when I built my 504. Crower solid roller lifters and T&D race rockers. Had to have 5/16 balls on both ends of the push tubes. The cup in the adjuster was damn shallow. I'd bet with some big valve lift (.900+) the chamfer for the oil hole in the ball has to be close to the edge of the cup in the adjuster.

[jayb]

One thing I know for sure is that the position of the oil hole in the side of the lifter (not the cup) is important.  These are different for the FE and the 429/460 engines.  With the 429/460 lifters in the FE block, the oil hole in the lifter lines up with the oil gallery in the block.  You do not want this, it will bleed a ton of oil out of the lifter at the cup, and when you are at lash the extra oil just floods into the valley.  The FE lifters have that oil hole positioned so it does not line up with the oil gallery; the oil comes from the clearance volume between the lifter and the bore.  This still provides plenty of oil to the pushrods, and doesn't bleed an excessive amount into the valley. 

I had a set of 429 roller lifters once that looked like they would work in an FE block, so I tried them out.  Pre-oiled with the intake off and saw tons of oil coming out the top of the lifters.  I remember taking the pushrods out on one side, spinning the pump, and watching 8 streams of oil arc 4 feet over the engine, out of the lifter cups.  I've got a picture of that somewhere; sure made a mess in the shop LOL.

Bottom line for you Royce is that if you have the right lifters in the block, you will not bleed an excessive amount of oil out of the lifter cups, even with solid pushrods and shaft oiling.

[Royce]

This is actually for my EMC MEL (Edsel). The lifter oil passages run right through the center of the lifter bore.. It has been a while since I have seen the insides of an FE. Is this the same as FE? I have some 385 lifters here, they have a hole at 11 o'clock.  It also appears that the Harland Sharp Adjusters are set up for a 5/16 ball on the push rod

[blykins]

Oiling through the lifters/pushrods with lash introduced into the system doesn't hurt anything.  Anytime I build a flat tappet FE, I will use SBF EDM lifters.  There are no issues doing it this way. 

With Trend/Smith/Manton being able to make a pushrod in any combination imaginable, it's no big deal to do whatever you need to do.

[Royce]

Brent, do you still oil through the rockers shafts on your flat tappet FEs?   Also I am finding that 385 lifters use a 5/16 seat.. The set of FE rollers I have here use a 3/8 seat..Finding push rods is not a problem, but making sure everything is compatible can be tricky

[blykins]

I do it both ways, Royce.   If I oil through the heads, I will still use a SBF lifter, but will use a plugged pushrod. 

[jayb]

This is actually for my EMC MEL (Edsel). The lifter oil passages run right through the center of the lifter bore.. It has been a while since I have seen the insides of an FE. Is this the same as FE? I have some 385 lifters here, they have a hole at 11 o'clock.  It also appears that the Harland Sharp Adjusters are set up for a 5/16 ball on the push rod

Yes, the FE lifter oil gallery runs right through the center of the lifter bores.  Its interesting that you mentioned the 429 lifters you have show the oil hole at 11:00 o'clock; mine had them at 9:00 or 3:00, can't recall which.  The FE roller lifters have them at 6:00 or 12:00, so as to not line up with the oil gallery.  If I recall correctly, the 429-460 oil gallery does not go through the center of the lifter bores, its offset one way or the other?

[blykins]

That's correct, Jay.  Both the 335 and 385 engines have the oil hole offset to the lifter bore.