[Healeys] Oil Additives

Michael Salter michaelsalter at gmail.com
Tue Apr 28 10:14:19 MDT 2020


Wow 8000 R.P.M from a 100 engine ... I'd say that is very unlikely!
We managed to get a big valve, "S" head, short stroke engine up to 6200 but
nothing that we tried, despite hours of dyno work, could produce anything
like those revs.
Maybe with a very big blower and many spare cranks.
You can read about our attempts here.
<https://www.netbug.net/blogmichael/2007/03/19/building-a-100r-race-engine/>

M

On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 10:45 AM Hap Polk <happolk at cox.net> wrote:

> 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
>
>
>
> Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for
> Windows 10
>
>
>
> *From: *Wayne Schultz <waschu2 at gmail.com>
> *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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