I always steer clear of the original 216 cars etc. just due to my lack of knowledge on the lost art of pouring babbit and splash oiling. I have p***ed up some nice cars due to this. Am I right to be a skeptic?
Poured rods can last a long time if they aren't abused. Keep oil clean and RPMs down and they will last a fair while. Remember that engines from the 30's-40's got a rebuild after 50,000 miles
It isn't so much, the poured babbit as it is the oiling systems. Even the shell type bearings are babbit, just a thinner layer. My old straight eight Buick had babbit bearings, but a full pressure oil system. It would run at 65/70 all day long
60 is all I would do on a dipper. Life expectancy goes down exponentially as rpm goes up. I know this from personal experience.
What I recall of these is they're fine below about 55 mph, but go above that and the additional vibration tends to cause the stamped sheet metal 'dippers' on the rods to break off. No dipper, no oil on the bearing, knock knock BANG! Every autopsy I attended on one of these with a broken rod had a missing dipper...
Sustained "high" RPM driving is the enemy of a splash-oiler. But, 60 shouldn't be a problem, even with 4:11 gears, which most of the older cars had. If you keep your foot out of it, maybe go with a Powerglide rear end - you can go faster, safer. Just a footnote - at higher RPM the 216 also had squirters that shot a stream of oil right at the rod bearings - the crank bearings had oil pressure on them.
Yes you are. If one of those old motors went 100K they got lucky and if you push one you will kill it. I used to help repair babbit motors when I was a little kid (say prior to about '63 or 4) the old man *****ed about them being obsolete back then why would we want one now?
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