msawdey44 Posted July 5, 2014 Report Posted July 5, 2014 I'm currently doing some work on my 1954 Dodge 241 hemi and have encountered something that nobody seems to know anything about--hope someone can enlighten me. I got a set of NOS main bearings to install, and find that the oil holes are located a bit differently than on the original bearings. The new ones have the oil holes about 1/4" offset toward one end of the bearing, while the originals have the hole centered. In the second picture I have attached, I think I can see the outline of an elongated hole in the block, sort of a shadow to one side of oil hole. The illustration in the 1954 shop manual seems also to show elongated holes in the block. I'm installing the bearings with the crankshaft in place and really don't want to do a complete tear-down to see if the holes match. So, any experience with this? If the oil holes in the block really are elongated, then perhaps it doesn't matter, but I'd surely like to hear from anyone who has actually observed this. Many thanks! Quote
Dodgeb4ya Posted July 5, 2014 Report Posted July 5, 2014 Who made thr replacement bearings? Are they modern day replacement or MoPar OE factory bearings? They should match up to th block round drilled oil galley hole. Bob Quote
fstfish66 Posted July 5, 2014 Report Posted July 5, 2014 i cant answer this question,,,im wondering if any one has an e mail address for TR WATERS ?? he would know,,also there is a question section on www. hothemiheads.com all they deal with is the early hemis,,,,google tr waters see if he has a site or e mail im sure he does,,, Quote
msawdey44 Posted July 5, 2014 Author Report Posted July 5, 2014 The bearings are from Federal-Mogul, and, from the look of the boxes, are from "back in the day".... Quote
msawdey44 Posted July 5, 2014 Author Report Posted July 5, 2014 About TR Waters--he sells on eBay, so one could always use an eBay message to find him. Quote
msawdey44 Posted July 5, 2014 Author Report Posted July 5, 2014 More on TR Waters: he is trwaters.com, e-mail is info@trwaters.com Quote
Don Coatney Posted July 5, 2014 Report Posted July 5, 2014 He is also a member of this forum. http://p15-d24.com/user/3540-tr-waters/ Quote
mrwrstory Posted July 6, 2014 Report Posted July 6, 2014 (edited) I'm pretty sure the holes in the block as are depicted in the drawing. I'd even bet money on it. However, I have a block I can check later today. And an email to "info a Hot Hemi Heads" usually gets a response from Bob Walker who is quick and generous with information. Plus the have a tech talk section, http://hothemiheads.com/hemi/tiki-view_forum.php?forumId=1 Edited July 6, 2014 by mrwrstory Quote
1941Rick Posted July 6, 2014 Report Posted July 6, 2014 From my recent experience with NOS bearings, I would not use them again.....Babbit peeled off the backing....info I was able to find out was there were a lot of issues with quality late 40's early 50's. Anyone else experience this? Quote
Dodgeb4ya Posted July 6, 2014 Report Posted July 6, 2014 Thats looks like a Hacky mod. Factory? Hope not! Quote
mrwrstory Posted July 6, 2014 Report Posted July 6, 2014 Thats looks like a Hacky mod. Factory? Hope not! They're all like that from the factory Quote
Dodgeb4ya Posted July 6, 2014 Report Posted July 6, 2014 (edited) So thats possibly part of the reason why those 241's had some issue's with main bearing and crank failures-the fix larger main galley oil supply to feed the main bearings? I read some stories of owners in the WPC who lost cranks due to MB/ crank failures on the early dodge engines.. Edited July 7, 2014 by Dodgeb4ya Quote
fstfish66 Posted July 7, 2014 Report Posted July 7, 2014 bill is that a 241 ? hemi or poly block ? what else are you hoarding over there?? Quote
Solution msawdey44 Posted July 7, 2014 Author Solution Report Posted July 7, 2014 MrBill--thanks so much for the photo of the block--that exactly agrees with the one in the shop manual, and with the location of the oil stains on the backs of the old bearings. Apparently the original bearings were drilled to line up with the holes toward the bottom of your picture, while the replacements line up with the upper hole, but both are connected, so it should make no difference. The bearings came from Bob Walker, and he said he thought this was perhaps the case--nice to have confirmation. Quote
mrwrstory Posted July 8, 2014 Report Posted July 8, 2014 So thats possibly part of the reason why those 241's had some issue's with main bearing and crank failures-the fix larger main galley oil supply to feed the main bearings? I read some stories of owners in the WPC who lost cranks due to MB/ crank failures on the early dodge engines.. Unless I'm mistaken, all Hemis, Dodges, DeSotos and Chrysler all have that oil channel detail that completes the circuit to the cam and rocker shafts. The only one that had crank issues was the smallest i.e. 241/270 Dodge and that's attributed to less than robust journal diameters. No other, 315/325 Dodges or Desotos, or Chrysler had problems with crank failures. Quote
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