Ford service bulletins....Rod bearings

wmu-sc

Registered User
Was there ever a service bulletin put out by ford that removed the oil holes from the rod bearings that feed the piston wrist pin? I just got my Sealed Power bearings, and they didn't have any holes. The speed shop said "we believe there was a service bulletin" - but I'm not about to burn down my motor based on heresay.

Does anyone know? Is there a place to find service bulletins? The Dealerships out here suck as much as an Eaton M110 through a McDonald's straw.

Thanks!!
-Steve-O
 
Bearings

I ran into the same thing last year when I built my engine. I had originally bought a complete set of Federal Mogul Bearings for the whole engine, but like yours the rod bearings lacked the holes. Part numbers were correct, just didnt have the holes. I dont know of any bulletins saying those holes are unnecessary or not but I did return the pack of rod bearings and got a set from Clevite that did have the hole in it. Maybe I was a little too careful but I didnt want to take any chances. Dont have a part # handy though.
Jason Parham
 
After seeing the Ford Manuals...

Ford evidently did revise the bearing....or at least REPLACED the part number with one that didn't have a hole. It said "...due to oil control issues..." -which I can see from a foaming standpoint. So evidently the wrist pin just gets oil from splash? I'd rather have too much lubrication than not enough. I'm trying to see if the oil clearance spec changed along with the hole-less bearings.

Has anyone built a motor with the bearings that don't have the oil holes?

-S
 
I believe Steve Webb (BlackbirdSC) had this problem. The early style rods had the holes (and so did the corresponding bearing) and the later rods (and bearings) did not. He had a mix of late and early rods and used the bearings without holes. He burned up a rod bearing in the rods with the holes. They had markings where the hole should be. I guess they were not transfer heat out very well with no rod material backing up the bearing in that spot.

I believe the moral is to use the bearings that match the rods!

Hopefully Steve will see this post and give a better explanation than I have done. LOL
 
While rebuilding my 94 SC engine I noticed the rod spray bosses and wondered about drilling the rods for cooling oil spray to the underside of the pistons. This is the main reason for these drillings, not wristpin lube, which takes minimal oil.

The best info I could find is that rod spray works best if timed with the journal oil gallery and if it is not located in a high load area of the bearing. Unfortunately the boss location on the SC rods IS in a high load location and would tend to sap the oil wedge strength. I was advised not to drill the rods.

That said, I cannot see why you could not use the full undrilled bearing on a drilled rod or why you couldn't drill a bearing shell to match the rod (I have done this in the past). Getting the proper bearings is the better answer though. If you drill the bearing shell, I'd carefully peen the hole with a steel ball to chamfer it instead of using the countersink.

Steve Best
SVO: http://sbest4.tripod.com/
SC 5spd: http://stevebest1.tripod.com/
4x4van: http://www.glinx.com/~sbest/
 
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