[Healeys] Oil Additives

[Perry]

Thanks Hap. My memory is not what it used to be. Good to see your name pop up.  Hope all is well.
Aloha
Perry

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

From: Hap Polk
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2020 10:37 AM
To: 'Perry'; healeys at autox.team.net
Subject: RE: [Healeys] Oil Additives

Perry,
Ii was a Buick Straight-8 (Fireball 8) engine from 1931 to 1953. The small block version, up to 273 cubic inch capacity came with lifters and push rods that could be dropped in a Healey 4-cylinder. The lifters were considerably lighter, especially if one added an oil drain hole to the lubricate the cam and not have to lift a bucket of oil each revolution. The push rods were slightly larger in diameter and appeared to my eye to be stronger. The Buick lifter and push rods coupled with Dodge valves and  titanium valve spring caps was the hot set up. When joined by an Isky or Crane cam, rumors were a 4-cylider could touch 8,000 rpm for brief moments. I was never able to verify the 8,000 rpm story told by some Southern California BMC dealers in the late 50s and early 60s. In 1961, I ran the Buick lifters and push rods with an Isky ¾ race cam in a ported head. My personal rpm limit remained 4,800 rpm. Mid-range torque was improved per my butt meter.

The Healey-Hunter DOHC conversion engine race redline was 7,000 rpm. Their cranks were fully polished and ran with lighter pistons and rods. Avoiding resonance frequencies, especially around 5,200 rpm was understood. In their very limited race life, no crank failures were noted, but rapid cam wear was. 

Does anyone know what race rpm limit some Healey 4-clynders engines are running these days with a steel billet crank, lighter internals, and a somewhat reinforcing cast aluminum sump?
Hap Polk
100M

From: Healeys <healeys-bounces at autox.team.net> On Behalf Of Perry via Healeys
Sent: Monday, April 27, 2020 6:51 PM
To: Wayne Schultz <waschu2 at gmail.com>; healeys at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Oil Additives

Listers / Wayne
I was thinking about the way the cam lobes are lubricated in the original configuration ( stock parts). Please chime in if this is way off. 
It would seem most of the lubrication comes from the steady drip that comes out at the rocker and runs down the pushrod. First the tappets (lifters) get some oil, then passes by the lifter and then on to the cam lobe. 
The oil dripping from the rocker shaft bushings drips onto the top of the head and drops through the pushrod holes to the lifter gallery. On some worn out engines this is a flood instead of a drip. Then you have the oil fog that is in the crank case/oil pan area when the engine is running due to the squirt of oil coming out of the piston rods big ends. The intent was to oil down the piston bores but coats pretty much everything.
The bucket lifters, which by the way was an old hot rod trick from the early days of Austin Healeys, using lighter weight lifters out of a straight eight Oldsmobile (if I remember correctly) and longer pushrods may or may not be drilled to allow oil to the cam lobe/lifter face. Some guys used pressurized oil to squirt the interface when the bucket was not drilled. The bucket lifters sold years ago that did not have a hole in the lifters had failure problems. A hole was added but the problem with the drilled hole in the bucket it could clog and there was little to no lubrication of the cam lobes, thus major wear.  
I’m not suggesting that the can lobe failure was caused by a plugged hole in the lifter since I did not work on this engine. But it is a possibility. 
Perry

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From: Wayne Schultz
Sent: Monday, April 27, 2020 4:49 PM
To: healeys at autox.team.net
Subject: [Healeys] Oil Additives

Hello everyone, I recently completed a rebuild of the engine in my Healey 3000. At 48K miles i noticed metal during an oil change. I dropped my oil pan and found even more metal and a silver ring in the block that lined up with a cam lobe. I had been using Mobil 1 for years and always had good oil pressure and a very quiet motor.  I pulled the motor and upon teardown I found one bad cam lobe and several lifters that had mild pitting.  I thought about how I used my car and came to conclusion  I, rather than the oil might be the  reason for the cam failure.  I drove my car every couple of weeks in nice weather. This is just enough time for the oil to leave the cam and lifters to drain into the pan. This meant the next time I started the engine the cam and lifters might have been metal on metal.  My new lifters are short bucket lifters with a drain hole to lubricate the cam lobes. Now using VR-1 20/50



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