FE rebuild, rod out of round.

[Fabulous50s]

This is a 1959 casting 332, with a 3.5" reground factory crank making it a 352. This was all done in 1989 by previous owner.

I got the car on the road last summer and noticed a persistent knock in one cylinder....which of course bothered me! So, this winter while changing the transmission I decided to pull the oil pan and have a look.

This is what I found.

Hoping it was just a lazy builder which left some debris behind the bearing I was not so lucky. Also this rod is in backward.

I guess I have to pull the engine so I can replace this rod and measure everything. Thankfully the crank isnt damaged and I'll just polish it.

Any advice of what I can look for or upgrade while this hunk of iron is out.

My goals, keep it stock horsepower as the relatively weak overdrive transmission I just rebuilt isnt up to the task of over 300HP. I'm guessing with the 2100 carb it's in the 225-250 range and I'm happy with that.

I think i read there are some oil passages which can be opened up to improve oiling?

[Lgcustom]

There is a long discussion on the FE Power Forum recently about oiling modifications. Bottom line is it's not necessary, especially on a stock motor such as this. How was the motor running other than the knock? Smoking, burning oil, compression down? How many miles on this motor? If none of the above were problems, just clean it, check clearances with new bearings Turn that rod around and reassemble.

[brushwolf]

Agree the oiling mods are not needed for your objectives. The later FE oil filter adapter (69 up?) has larger passages, but using it may not do a lot without grinding block passages that mate to it.

Took apart an early hemi a few years back and found one rod in backwards as well. When rods were checked by machinist I ended up having to replace 2 rods. Not sure if it was related to that one being in backwards or what...

Would not think so, but as easy as FE rods are to obtain I would have machine shop check at least that rod for any issues and also check to see if cylinder opposite it shows any issues from being run with less oil on piston skirt than it should have had.

[59meteor]

As others have said, and as we discussed on the FE Forum, for mild builds, there is no NEED to do any modifications to the FE oiling system. I mean, your engine has lasted over 60 years, so I can`t imagine the factory oiling system could be all THAT bad, right? I have been drag racing FEs 45 years, and yes, on my race engines I do spend a few hours detailing the oiling system, and I do a bit on my street/strip stuff. But on the 428 CJ in my 59, I did nothing to the oiling system, other than restrict the oil getting to the rocker shafts, since I don`t plan to be revving it much more than 56-5800 RPM, so the stock system is fine. I have the factory Cobra Jet windage tray, and a Canton deep sump pan, since I had it on hand, and I will be drag racing the car occasionally. A lot of these "mods" were done many years ago, but unless you are racing at Daytona for hours at a time, or shifting at 7000 RPM , just not needed. I used to do the popular "correcting" Fords "Mistake" of the main bearing oil holes not perfectly aligning with the holes in the blocks main webbing, but after having one of my 428 blocks split right thru the center of the oil holes that I had "fixed", I stopped doing that, and have suffered no further issues. Not to mention any such oil passage grinding, drilling & tapping, should be done on a totally stripped block, (no cam bearings, all oil galley plugs removed, and then a thorough hot tanking/high pressure jet spray washing, so that any metal filings or debris can be flushed out. Sometimes we create problems trying to cure issues which don`t really exist in the first place.

[Fabulous50s]

This is in a way good news guys thank you.

This engine suffered a seized oil pump which ruined the 3.3" crank back in the 80s. That's why it ended up with the bigger crank. Everything else looks great inside. The engine ran absolutely fantastic, I actually couldn't have been happier. No oil consumption issues, this engine has less than 10,000 miles on the rebuild. It sat 20 years before I bought the car.