Was at a friends today to tear down a 250 Ford 6 to fix a burnt valve and replace the damaged oil pan,after removing the rocker arm ***embly we started puling out the push rods and two were worn down just above the lifters which seemed strange. After removing the head there was another lifter down in the hole rubbing on the push rods and can see where it was rubbing on the block,this motor had all C9 casting numbers and the head gasket has a C9 part number so that lifter had been in it since it left the factory. I thought there was a thread about strange things found in motors but nothing showed up in a couple searches.
had a buddy with an IH farm truck (392) that ate pushrods like it was its' job! he'd just pull the VC, put 2 more pushrods in, put the rockers back on, and run it. I bet there were at least 8 extra broken pushrods down in the valley of that engine! was running when he sold it, it might still be out there running.....
Somebody probably had about 30 seconds to install each set of lifters on the ***embly line. If he dropped one, tough noogies, the line doesn't stop for anybody.
The Jalopy Journal
