Rod Bearing Oil Passage / Hole Missing?

[DrFishbone]

I was looking at at some some rods/pistons that were given to me by another club member a few years ago and noticed something that looks like it could have been a problem...

Motor #1 (left)- all-original 1989 (240K miles)
Motor #2 (right) - replacement Sealed Power bearings in early motor (rods are early model) - STD size bearings...this motor (I think) had a piston ring fail (it's missing one ring and one of the cylinder bores has a decent scratch in it)

My concern: The aftermarket bearings do not have the oil passage hole in them. I checked to see if any of the rod bearings from motor #2 had holes, but they do not. It appears that the rods have a built-in hole that helps oil the wrist pin and/or cylinder walls (to an extent?).

Anybody else come across this...or know if this is even an issue?

 

[racecougar]

That's for the oil squirter. IIRC, the later rods weren't drilled for them.

 

[DrFishbone]

Hmm...flipped the picture.

The hole is definitely for the oil squirted, and you are probably right about thelater model rods...I used late model rods my last motor and don't remember seeing these holes. Searching other sites yesterday, it sounds like other motors sometimes have them, but they are regarded as optional. They seem like a good idea...I'm not sure why Ford would use them if they didn't do much good though.