FE block oil mods ... details & photos anyone know were to look for info?

[fastco]

Hello Daryl here... had a detailed article / write up with photos of FE block oil mods that used to be posted on Gessford Machines web site... i had a copy of it.. but lost it ... anyone know were to go find this info?
THANKS IN ADAVANCE..... Daryl

[jayb]

Welcome Daryl.  Block modifications are not universally necessary, and in many cases are not really required.  However, they can't hurt in most cases.  More important than the block mods are to use the good oil filter adapter (66 and later I think, with the 1/2" internal passages), a higher capacity oil pan, the good Federal Mogul 125M main bearings, and oil restrictors in the heads and/or the factory oil drainback tins in the heads. 

I don't have the article you are referring to, but I would consider the following modifications to the block if you want to proceed that way:

- Drill the oil passage from the oil pump to the oil filter adapter to 7/16" or 1/2", and radius the holes in the oil filter adapter pad
- Radius the hole going from the oil filter adapter pad to the internal part of the engine.  Some people like to drill this passage out to 7/16" for the first 6" or so into the block.
- Put the upper main bearing shells into the block and you will see that the oil holes in the block do not line up perfectly with the oil holes in the bearing shells.  Mark the block where the holes need to be to line up with the bearings and use a die grinder to open the holes up.  Don't go too deep here; only 1/8" or so.

Hope that helps - Jay

[e philpott]

here's a good read with some picts

http://www.fordfe.info/Forum/Oil.html

[rockhouse66]

The article is still there on Gessford's site;

http://www.gessford.com/projects/feoiling.htm

[machoneman]

More Gessford stuff:

http://www.gessford.com/engine.htm

[KMcCullah]

here's a good read with some picts

http://www.fordfe.info/Forum/Oil.html

I have found a lot of useful info on fordfe.info site.

[fastco]

Hello ... a BIG thanks to you fellows,,,,, excellent leads & links  i was loooking for..... The Gessford info IS THERE ... as i remembered it...  THANKS!...... not sure how i missed that .. also FE Form info & engine spec's  excellent
I'm starting to build a 1969 428 SCJ engine, i got lucky and found a fellow who orderd all new 428 SCJ crank assembly from Ford dealer back in the early 70's when he blew his bottom end up in his 428 SCJ engine... and had the new SCJ crank & damper & cookie cutter & new Lemans rods all new in the boxes in his basement all these years.. and wanted to go over a few mods to CJ  block before i have block machined...
I've done most of these mods before a few years back.. but readings over the info here refreshed my memory and i 've picked up some new info  for this project .
                                                                               Thanks again  Regards Daryl
                                                               

[amdscooter]

^^^ Yes.. all great links guys! I had picked up on a lot of them spread across many sites. Nice to find them all in those collections. I did as many as I could to my block already. If not mentioned already in the above literature.. if you are drilling the oil filter adapter block feed hole get a 3 flute drill! I did it with a 2 flute attached to my Milwaukee wrist breaker with lots of fluid and slow speeds... it was still nerve wracking! 

Not to hijack the thread. How many people here would recommend restricting the head flow with a .070~.090 orifice(many places I read recommended using a holley jet for this)  for a street setup? Seems to be a lot of conflicting info on whether or not it's necessary.

[fastco]

My 2 cents on head oil restricting ... when using a HV oil pump i'd suggest loading retrictors in the heads as there is way to much oil pumped up into the rocker assembly & head valley with the stock dia oil feed hole.... flooding the heads with excess oil ,  and @ higher RPM not leaving much oil in the stock type pans this can cause oil starvation of ther pump / it sucks air & we all know what that can lead too..... instantly .... wipped out bearings
I use .090th oil restrictors on my street builds with no issues to date....


O'll Skool trick i learned.........
A long time ago i was @ a car show in Ohio..  talking to some of the older hardcore Ford boys there and checking out there cars and there engines in there cars. Well i was talking about oil retrictors in FE engines with this fellow who'd been building Ford power longer then i'd been on the planet @ that time.. anyway i asking him about a friends 428 we've been working on with cam swap in intake changes & loading a HV oil pump in the engine.. the engine ran great ... but sometimes @ high RPM's go'n through the gears we'd see the oil pressure drop low  then swing back up to normal,,,, we were sucking the pan dry.
I asked him what we could do to stop it .... buy a big race pan and trick pickup? ...He said well if the engines up & running in the car... what i do is take an old SB CHEVY hollow pushrod & cut both  the end off prox 3/4 inch.long .. deburr the cut ends and wash'em  it good.
Take the rocker assemblies off the heads find the oil feed holes in the heads now load the cut off push rod ends with the ball end facing UP towards the rocker shaft & drop them in the holes and reload the rocker shafts... this will restrict oil to your rocker shafts and you good to go..
I've done this o;ll trick many times and it worked for me...
                                                                                                                     Regards Daryl

[KMcCullah]

^^^ Yes.. all great links guys! I had picked up on a lot of them spread across many sites. Nice to find them all in those collections. I did as many as I could to my block already. If not mentioned already in the above literature.. if you are drilling the oil filter adapter block feed hole get a 3 flute drill! I did it with a 2 flute attached to my Milwaukee wrist breaker with lots of fluid and slow speeds... it was still nerve wracking! 

Not to hijack the thread. How many people here would recommend restricting the head flow with a .070~.090 orifice(many places I read recommended using a holley jet for this)  for a street setup? Seems to be a lot of conflicting info on whether or not it's necessary.

I always restrict oil to the rockers on all levels of FE builds. Tap the deck of the block and loctite a setscrew with a .070 orifice drilled in it.
And always run an extra quart of oil.

[amdscooter]

Thanks for the replies. I'll probably go with a .070 restriction as I'm using a Melling HV oil pump. Thinking about a windage tray as well. How far up does 6 quarts of oil fill the stock FE pan? Kinda surprised to see windage trays going from $85 to north of $100 and wondering if it's necessary to have one to run 6 quarts.

[cammerfe]

You'd have a job assembling all the issues, but I did a 14 part examination of the FE engine---building with reference to many of the original engineers. We did all 14 months of work in the Prototype Shop at the Roush activities in Livonia Michigan. As the original engineers retired, Jack would offer to employ them, so they were readily available.  The resulting articles were all published in Mustang Illustrated Magazine and after that publication was absorbed into Mustang and Fords, the last several articles came out there. This was in '00 and '01.

 We did everything possible to improve the oiling of the engine, using a C-4 solid-lifter 390 block as a starting place---going so far as to bore out the cam tunnel and re-groove the bulkheads. Then we installed roller cam bearings. There is a substantial loss of oil at the cam bearings in the conventional factory lay-out. Roller bearings are splash-oiled but require a steel camshaft. The pressed-in outer races simply route ALL the oil through the bulkhead grooves.

KS

[Rory428]

O'll Skool trick i learned.........
A long time ago i was @ a car show in Ohio..  talking to some of the older hardcore Ford boys there and checking out there cars and there engines in there cars. Well i was talking about oil retrictors in FE engines with this fellow who'd been building Ford power longer then i'd been on the planet @ that time.. anyway i asking him about a friends 428 we've been working on with cam swap in intake changes & loading a HV oil pump in the engine.. the engine ran great ... but sometimes @ high RPM's go'n through the gears we'd see the oil pressure drop low  then swing back up to normal,,,, we were sucking the pan dry.
I asked him what we could do to stop it .... buy a big race pan and trick pickup? ...He said well if the engines up & running in the car... what i do is take an old SB CHEVY hollow pushrod & cut both  the end off prox 3/4 inch.long .. deburr the cut ends and wash'em  it good.
Take the rocker assemblies off the heads find the oil feed holes in the heads now load the cut off push rod ends with the ball end facing UP towards the rocker shaft & drop them in the holes and reload the rocker shafts... this will restrict oil to your rocker shafts and you good to go..
I've done this o;ll trick many times and it worked for me...
                                                                                                                     Regards Daryl

For many years I have been using similar sections of a stock, solid ball/ball FE pushrod, cut about 3/4" as well, I just grind or file a flat (about 1/4" wide), and drop it down the oil feed holes. I always have a bunch of pushrods laying around from core FEs, and that way you don`t have to touch any Chevy parts!

[e philpott]

he's more info with some assembly tips

http://www.fordfe.info/Forum/FAQ-Style-index2.html

[ScotiaFE]

Thanks for the replies. I'll probably go with a .070 restriction as I'm using a Melling HV oil pump. Thinking about a windage tray as well. How far up does 6 quarts of oil fill the stock FE pan? Kinda surprised to see windage trays going from $85 to north of $100 and wondering if it's necessary to have one to run 6 quarts.

Here's a pic of a stock pan showing how much you can fit in.

http://fepower.net/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=201.msg1303#msg1303