8BA Rod Orientation

C

Chuck Kuntz

Well-known member
I am working on a 59AB motor that had the later 8BA crank and rods installed. I see that the Ford shop manual states that the oil squirt holes should face forward, but the Chilton manual says that the rod bearing tangs should the to the outside of the motor. On cylinders 1 thru 4, this means that if the holes are forward the stamped numbers on the rods are facing the center of the motor and the tangs are to the inside of the motor. What is the proper orientation for these rods????? Another question is that I want to put this in a 1933 Tudor and need to know what crankshaft pulley should be used. It appears that the standard 8BA would hit on the front cross member. The 8BA crank uses a spiral grooved sleeve to direct oilflow backwards. This motor had been in a 41 ford so it had the long snout pulley with the fan. Obviously I can't use that on the 33. Thanks for any info you can offer.
 
Most v8 engines have the rods installed with tangs to the oil pan rails. The squirt holes will get you a couple of opinions. I'm not sure squirt holes even matter.It depends what you believe in. 6 cyl eng tangs usually face camshaft side.
 
The squirt holes aim at the camshaft. In that orientation the stamped number will be visible from the outside of the block, on each bank.

As an aside, the early 8BA style rods did not have squirt holes so orientation or even the fact that they are present is not critical. A Ford Service Rep told me the squirt holes were added to combat poor wear characteristics experienced by fleets of police cars which spent many hours at idle speed.
 
You can remove the sleeve from the 8BA crank (very tight fit) and use your original pulley or cut the extension off your pulley and leave the sleeve there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top