QuestionHi Dick, this is a follow up from my last message that is dated 4/24/08. Site wouldn't let me ask another follow-up so I had to start new.
If I can refresh your memory a little we had been trying to figure out what size motor my 49 standard eight had. Putting aside all we had discussed before I have pulled and dismantled the engine.
I do not have the tools (yet) to measure bore and stroke but from my Manual Info I measured the connecting rods center to center and from what I came up with it's a 288 CID.
The 282 and 327 are 7 11/16 CTC and the 288 is 7 15/16 CTC.
Should I feel safe in assuming this is a 288? or should I still do the bore and stroke?
I numbered and stored the lifters as you said to.They look good but i wanted to ask if i get new ones do the lifter seats need to be reamed or anything? Or should I use the old ones?
Of course i will not order anything till I get all the Machine Shop work done.
Thanks again for your help.
Respectfully.
Dave
AnswerThe long rods definitely identify this as a 288, no other 49 engine has rods that long.
The last year for the 282 is 1947, so you don't have one of those unless someone has swapped the engine - and it wouldn't fit without some modifications to the engine mounts.
All Standard 8s came with 288 engines, and I don't think you'd have hydraulic lifters unless the car was special ordered with them - in which case there would be an "H" after the engine number on the block.
Of course the engine might not be the original one, so we cannot be sure about anything - but the rod length definitely makes it a 288.
I don't remember your previous question, so pardon my not knowing, but if your car has hydraulic lifters, you should not need to do anything with them, unless they were noisy. Those last forever, all they need is to be kept clean. If they were noisy, take each one apart, one by one, and soak it in lacquer thinner until all the parts are perfectly clean, fill it with fresh oil, and it should be ready for service. The shop manual gives detailed instructions for how to get them apart - it is a bit tricky. If you don't have a shop manual for your car, now is a good time to get one. If you can't find a shop manual for a 49, get one for a 51-54 - it's the same engine, and those manuals are widely available from the automotive literature dealers and eBay.
New hydraulic lifters have not been available for at least 20 years now.
After the valves are ground, you may have to have the valve stems shortened so that the lifters are within their operating range - you should have between 0.050 and 0.100 inches of clearance from each valve stem to the top of a collapsed lifter. This is not an extremely critical distance, but if the clearance is too low, the valves might not close all the way, and if it is too large, you may hear tappet noise. Usually, when the engine is started for the first time, there will be a lot of tappet noise for the first hour or so, while the hydraulic lifters self adjust to take up all the slack.
If your car has solid lifters, all those need is normal cleaning and re-installation- you will have to adjust them once the engine is ready to run - set them at about 0.015" to begin with, then as the engine gets a few hours on it, you can set them to spec.
288s were available with either type of lifters. If the engine number has an "H" after it, that indicates hydraulic lifters. If you are having the camshaft re-ground, be sure to specify which type of lifters it has.
I'm not sure what you are referring to re: 'lifter seats' = but if you mean the cam followers that come up through the floor of the valve lifter chamber, those are not at all critical - they simply hold the bottom of the lifters; there is no need to do anything with them other than to clean them.
Dick
