Hot Rods 4 Banger Babbitt Bearings

Hey fellas, I have a 28 roadster with a mild model B banger that runs an original 6:1 Winfield head, dual Winfield S AA D carbs, a Winfield 1R camshaft, a Hallock header and a 30's Mallory flat cap dizzy. Recently I blew a head gasket and on removing the head I noticed that the bores look a little 'glazed' there is no cross-hatch honing pattern at all. There is no discernible 'lip' at the top of the bores so I was kinda hoping I could re-hone the cylinder bores and put in a fresh set of rings. To be honest I have no experience with babbitt bearing type motors so I'm not sure if the crank and rods can be removed without damaging the existing babbitt bearings? I'm not even sure how to check whether the existing bearings are still any good? Does the cam run similar Babbitt type bearings? Is there an easy way to check these bearings, and if so, can the block be stripped down re-honed and put back together with the existing bearings etc?

 

Check the banger thread, I helped you out.--TV

 

Yes, you can rebuild the motor without a re-Babbitt job. Don't cook the block, it could harm the Babbitt.
The cam doesn't have bearings, only cast iron block.
Lots of info in the Banger thread here and on the Fordbarn site.

 

Thanks 'TV' and 'NM Stumpjumper' for your replies, that's exactly what I needed. Cheers.

 

Wait a minute... These motors don't use cam bearings???

As much as I hate to admit it, I ended up learning something today.

 

With all that other work ie head cam and carb
It may have insert bearings

 

Many of the modern cars today don't have cam bearings.
Aluminum makes a great bearing when fed oil.

And, yes, Model A or B bored out for larger Cam runs in the iron bores.
There is a point to where you run out of material.

J

 

It does throw you off at first, but makes sense when you think about it. After all a cam bearing is more or less just a smooth aluminum surface!

 

I'd kind of forgotten about later model stuff running the cams in an aluminum head or a separate cam carrier. Of course the newer stuff is running with pressurized oiling too! It just sort of made my brain hurt to think of spinning the cam in a cast iron bore with what I suspect was splash oil off the crankshaft. And then they're not turning these motors at 6000 RPM or higher either!

 

We just ran this last weekend, data shows about 5400 rpm on a B block at 140 mph.
Of course the cam is pressure fed oil, at least a little.