Interesting information, but wrong. My Dodge is not a fast four and as you can see has 5 mains. If it was a fast four it would have 2 intake ports as opposed to the one that mine came with. A Fast Four would have a chain driven cam instead of the gear drive on mine. Also the distributor would come through the head, much like a Ford. Mine is offset with an auxiliary drive that also runs the water pump and generator. More common than the Roof head is the Morton & Brett OHV conversion. There is a thread here with several photos of the M&B head that I had on my block. It also has gone to Montana to live. Also you can find there information on converting a aluminum MoPar 318-360 head to work on the non-Fast four engine. Not exactally a bolt on.
PS Getting a cam blank isn't anything new. Joe Panak at RotoFaze comes to mind. Cutting the cam drive gear might be a problem. Or you could go to a crank trigger ignition and belt driven oil pump. Kind of kills the Vintage look. And not even a little bit cheap. And then you are still stuck with a lobe that fits through the quite small cam bearing holes. You could look into opening up the first two cam bearing bores. In the old days guys just went to an OHC conversion on Chevy fours if they were serious. Then they could run any lobe they wanted. But maybe loose the rocker arm ratio advantage. it's never easy. Now my 32 Plymouth accepted a Y block Ford head without much argument. So if it took a Y block head a 302-351 W or C head could be made to bolt on.
Interesting. My books show the early engines having three mains, but I defer to you since you have an example in hand! Sorry about the misinformation.
You are correct that the early engines have three mains. You have misinterpreted "Early Engines". My '26 is earlier than some. But absolutely 5 mains. See post 1678.
Another possibility is to have the Chevy cam lobes welded up, since the cam itself is just a piece of low carbon steel, case hardened. I don't think that anything in the Chevy engine is good material. Krokodilen-- The Chevy 4 and the Ford A both have a 1.500'' crankpin Rich-- Is the '27-'28 Dodge engine the same as the PB Plymouth? In 50 years I have never seen either one around here that wasn't in a restored car Herb
No. The Dodge 4 cylinder engine and the Plymouth are completely different. Ply. 3 mains. Dodge 5 and so on.
My dad was a big Dodge/Plymouth/Chrysler flathead six fan. Cars, pickups, trucks, and irrigation wells were thus powered. Many road trips from Texas to California and back proved their superiority to me , then I bought a '48 Chevy with a 216 for $55………….
Well, I spoke with three different Dodge Boys and it appears the five-main engines started in July of 1926. So there you go: Good Dodge bangers are '26-'28.
Sorry to have gotten so far afield in this conversation. To re-direct a bit, did anyone see my article on R.Séamus.S's '28 Chevy roadster in the latest Hemmings Motor News? Damn cool car that should hopefully have a damn cool Chevy banger in it soon.
Thanks Herb, Merry Christmas to you. Next week I'm going to try and visit a couple of guys here that are 4 cylinder fans. The dad has been into Chevy 4s for a long time. I'll see what I can learn.
Merry Christmas To all. Thanks Herb for starting it. You may get visitors soon, if you can stand it? We need to check on your progress.
So I decided to go with the split overlap method of timing the cam. Couldn't help noticing there is no good thing to use when turning the crank. So, not wanting to get to involved in making something nice I cut the top off of a 26 Dodge piston that was handy and drilled a 7/8 hole in the center and two 3/8 holes 1 inch from center. Then made four 1/2 inch holes pretty much equal around the outside. Used two 3/8-16 bolts to fasten it to the crank gear and used two Chrysler head bolts to stick in the 1/2 inch holes and turn it. Very much quick and dirty.
I love home made tools, especially the ones you won't use a lot. The hardest thing is to remember where you put them if you do need them again.
I'm with you Six Ball, but I solved the finding by throwing all the special tools in a drawer. Now, I pull one out, and wonder what's its for, because either I didn't mark it, or the marking has worn off. Rich- If you are going to use the stock water pump, don't forget the thin steel plate that goes between the pump and the block. Helps the circulation a lot, and is always missing. Also, if the flywheel is put on the crank in the correct relationship, TDC and degree marks around TDC are visible through the window in the bell housing. The crank/flywheel will fit several ways, so the bolt holes will have to be orientated correctly. Trash the original bolts, replace with grade 8. A couple dowel pins through the crank/flywheel flanges is recommended for anything other than a stock engine Herb
Hey guys, I recently aquired a bunch of stuff that I'm pretty sure is Chevy 4 parts. The head looks like it's got two intake and two exhaust ports, if I'm looking at it right. Can anyone tell me what I have here? I'll happily sell it all or in pieces to anyone here on this board that could use it. I bought it all off of a scrapper friend to keep it from getting recycled, but I don't personally have any use for it.
the old timers would lengthen the rods, put .100 shims under valve springs, put dual carbs. ( 28 has a dual port head) an oil can to lube the rockers, a hand pump to pressure up the fuel tank. good luck
I got a chevy -28 engine and I just recently found a -21 and a -23 engine. Are there interchangable parts between the engines and are they worth buying as spare parts?
Some I think. Some of the older cams are better but I'm not sure which ones. They don't have a distributer gear.
The cams for the big engine (F, FA, FB, and T early twenties) reportedly would''wake up'' the the'26 and back motors. Problem is, the followers that Chevy used were not compatible with the cam lobes', both from a design and apparently a material standpoint. and all the 224ci cams that I have ,or have seen have horribly worn lobes--so between the rarity of the engines, and the likelihood of one having a usable cam are less than zero. They won't work with a '27-'28 block, because the 224ci cam has no distributor gear cut in the middle journal. Herb
The cams for the big engine (F, FA, FB, and T early twenties) reportedly would''wake up'' the the'26 and back motors. Problem is, the followers that Chevy used were not compatible with the cam lobes', both from a design and apparently a material standpoint. and all the 224ci cams that I have ,or have seen have horribly worn lobes--so between the rarity of the engines, and the likelihood of one having a usable cam are less than zero. They won't work with a '27-'28 block, because the 224ci cam has no distributor gear cut in the middle journal. Herb