Lincoln "K" Technical Questions

Norman,

Cotter pins are what was used when new. I do have used hydraulic lifter bodies. The hydraulic unit is separate from the body. The only alternative for rod bearings that I know of any inserts from an International Navistar 6.9/7.3 liter diesel engine that was used in Ford trucks and school buses. You will have to open up the diameter of the connecting rod a bit to accept the IHC inserts. As for main bearings there are shims from the factory between the main cap and the crankcase. If the wear is not too much you can just remove some shims. If that is not possible you will have to have the original bearing shells machined and coated with Babbitt then align bored in place in the crankcase.

Ray Theriault

860 919 1821

Safety Wire or Cotter Keys for 414 main and rod fasteners. Which method was the factory standard for my '39 K

Taking the oil pan off, I found all of the rod and main fasteners are Cotter Keyed. I've only seen one other assembled bottom end on 414 and everything was Aviation Level Safety Wired. Did the last person inside this engine know what they were doing or just too lazy to Safety Wire?

The oil was pitch black. A 1/4 inch of compacted sludge covered the bottom of the pan. Inside the block surfaces are clean with no sign of water or rust, this is good. The oil lines are in place. The screen was clean but as Karma dictates, with good comes bad, there was a piece of steel laying on top of the screen. One side is machined and polished. After talking to my Machinist, we agree it is a piece off the base of a hydraulic valve lifter. I took a quick look but didn't see a broken lifter base. Maybe I'll get lucky and we are wrong and the lifters are good but then where did the metal piece come from?

Next thing to do will be, after I clean everything off- no oil dripping on my face, I'll check the lifters and then the bearings. I believe the acceptable clearance is .003.

Does anyone know where I will be able to located a hydraulic lifter and probably cam, rod and main bearings for the 414.

I used Olsen's for my gasket set, they were able to make head gaskets that will work with the aluminum heads.