good friend brought a pile of parts over to see if we could make something out of it. a roller cammed '56 block and heads with Cragar 2" belt driven 4-71 and misc bits and pieces. I tore the block down to inspect, unfortunately it didn't pass inspection. for ease of handling and storage I reassembled the big pieces, for now it can be garage art while he creates a new game plan.
What didn’t pass? An early roller cammed blown Olds surely it isn’t beyond Hope? Too much good stuff there. I am a sucker for such things.
Wondering about the cam, is it an early Herbert with long bars bolted into the valley to keep the lifters aligned?
Are those beautiful Weiand valve covers extra tall to suit the roller situation? I don't think you could find a better combination of exotic parts for that engine. Hey I've got a running 55 Olds engine sitting in the shed but the freight would be a problem LOL
yep, I wouldn't mind having it in my corner let's just say the juice ain't worth the squeeze.. block already bored .125 over, crank turned .020 under and scored mains pistons and rods renumbered from multiple rebuilds or donors far better to start with another core. we already have lines on a couple others. no name stamped, it does have the number 1 stamped twice, it rides in needle bearings and there was a flat plate bolted to the valley cover bosses that kept the lifters from rotating.
Sounds like a Herbert, AFAIK Chet was the only one to guide roller lifters that way before the idea of joining pairs was thought of.
That sounds like a Chet Herbert roller, that is the same setup that I found when I restored the Orange Crate engine.
The picture of the blown Olds in the rail was taken at the Arlington Dragstrip Reunion about 2008. That one belonged to my nephew at the time. It came out of a '52 Olds convertible from the Oak Harbor area; he added the blower set up and put it in a couple of cars over the years. Never got it running and never tore it down to check the condition of the innards, though I told him he'd better do that before trying to start it. He was always looking for more speed equipment for it and was always adding stuff as he acquired it. Could be the same engine, or not... The Hydro that came off the back of it is in my roadster now.
Back in the '50's we were known to bore those things to 3 15/16 or .187 over. As far as the cam, I bought a used roller that used the plate in the valley. Guy told me it was an Engle.
Chet Herbert was the first one to use roller lifters in Hot Rod engines in the 50's. From what I have seen, I believe that several of the cam grinders in those early years used Herbert roller set ups with their cams. However they could have copied Chet's design also.
made a simple idler bracket out of 1/4" steel plate and tubing. there is enough adjustment to run the belt inside or out. (this "belt" is just a 2" rubber strap I had laying around to check fit and look)
I have been running a blown Olds (57' 371")in my nostalgia gas 34' Ford for ten years . Love the motor. For one thing it has that "cool effect" attention getter and not just another sbc/bbc. Not the fastest in the bunch but 10.17 / 130 mph is fast enough for me..
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