427 Cobra Engine 1966

[Excaliber]

Thanks for that link Doug. From that thread Tom Kirkham says:

All comp cars and all SC cars had 427 SO
CSX3101 - CSX3199 427 TO
CSX3200 - CSX3299 428 PI
CSX3300 to the End 427 SO

I would consider Tom, certainly Nedsel, authorities on the question of which and how many Cobras came with top oilers. It is difficult to nail down the numbers, but one could be lead to believe it is more than 8 or 9. A number which has been stated on different forums for many years.

While the side oiler offers superior main bearing oiling Keith Craft himself has noted the potential failure for the top oiler block to crack at high rpm. Not all top oilers had the cross bolted mains. I'd bet most of them do not in fact. Granted 9000 rpm for a side oiler is lofty rpm indeed and subject to immediate failure at that rpm. The SOHC engine was capable of such rpm in drag racing, but certainly NOT a sustained rpm number!