Center vs: side oiler

double ugly · #1 (**permalink**) 01-10-2007, 06:30 AM

Is the difference between center oiler blocks and side oiler blocks just how they are drilled? I found a side oiler engine block that hasn't been drilled to be a side oiler and is represented therefore as a center oiler. Sorry about the stupid question. Thanks.
John

Anthony · #2 (**permalink**) 01-10-2007, 07:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by double ugly

Is the difference between center oiler blocks and side oiler blocks just how they are drilled? I found a side oiler engine block that hasn't been drilled to be a side oiler and is represented therefore as a center oiler. Sorry about the stupid question. Thanks.
John

The original center oiler blocks did not have the appropriate casting for drilling "side oiler" oil galleries. Later on, after Ford came out with the Side oiler design which also had the appropriate casting for center oiler galleries as well, Ford used this casting for some 427 blocks but drilled out only the center oiler oil galleries. many of these engines were used in marine/industrial applications. You can drill out one of these center oiler blocks into a side oiler, but have it done by somebody who has done it before.

Also, as the engine mount pad is machined into the side of the block, in the same location as the side oiler galleries, I have heard that when ford machined these engine mounts into the side of the blocks, sometimes they machined them too deep, and then used these engine blocks that were to be drilled as side oilers and instead druilled them as center oilers. The moral to this is that some the side oiler blocks drilled as center oilers may not be able to be drilled out as side oiler.

double ugly · #3 (**permalink**) 01-10-2007, 07:44 AM

Thanks for the information. That was a real good recap. It is a marine block so maybe it can be modified
John

Clois Harlan · #4 (**permalink**) 01-10-2007, 08:00 AM

I am running a 427 center oiler (Top Oiler) and I am very pleased with it and the performance. I track my car so you can be assured that I give it a pretty good run in ever so often. I know the advantages of the S. O. but don't sell the center oiler short because it is a very durable and performance capable engine. The SideOiler was intended for long duration (Nascar & Grand Prix) races inwhich the engine was turning in excess of 7000 RPM's for several hours at a time. Most of us don't do that on a regular basis and if we do it is only for a few miles or a few minutes at a time.

There is nothing wrong with overkill but do you really need it or do you just want the bragging rights of owning a sideoiler?

Clois

double ugly · #5 (**permalink**) 01-10-2007, 08:37 AM

Like so many things in this hobby it's for bragging rights. The project I'm thinking of starting would require (in my mind) a side oiler. I have a neighbor lady that has a Lamborghini Galardo that hasn't seen seventy miles an hour.
Same mentality, I guess.

John

Clois Harlan · #6 (**permalink**) 01-10-2007, 08:59 AM

Not a problem, we all like to do a little bragging now and then. By the way I think you can take your neighbor on the Lambo's best day, up to a point.

Clois

double ugly · #7 (**permalink**) 01-10-2007, 09:20 AM

I could beat the car with her driving on my bicycle.

John

RodKnock · #8 (**permalink**) 03-21-2007, 03:08 PM

When looking at a used Cobra for sale, how does a relative neophyte decipher an early versus late center/top oiler and whether the particular center/top oiler could ultimately be drilled as a side oiler? Also, assuming all other things being equal, what is the value difference, when evaluating a used Cobra for purchase, between having an original side oiler engine versus an original center/top oiler engine?

fostereast · #9 (**permalink**) 03-22-2007, 07:17 PM

The early ones did not have the boss or ridge along the side to drill as a side oiler.

Center oiler is a good motor. Value of a sideoiler over a center oiler is the wow factor once it is built, IMHO, I would strongly suggest not going to the trouble to drill a centeroiler to a sideoiler, it's not cheap and in general offer no benefits, unless it's a racing motor, and even then the centeroiler won lots of races too.

If I'm not mistaken the original centeroilers did not have screw in freeze plugs. Someone can correct me on this if I am wrong

RodKnock · #10 (**permalink**) 03-22-2007, 10:08 PM

fostereast, thank you for your answer.

I'm considering the purchase of a Cobra with a center/top oiler, so I'm trying to understand the value added by having a side-oiler. I agree with you, by the time you pull the engine and take it apart, getting a side-oiler would make more sense than drilling a center/top oiler. For me at least.

Excaliber · #11 (**permalink**) 03-22-2007, 10:28 PM

Friend of mine bought his Hi Tech (older, nice original spec car) for ONE simple reason, it had a side oiler. I must admit I bought my ERA for ONE simple reason, it had a side oiler. IF it had a 428 I do believe I would have passed on the car, even at a nice price. A center oiler would have been acceptable, but it would have missed 'just enough' that it would bother me...

For me, and for my friend, we knew what we wanted, and that was the end of that. Nothing less would do. Now having said that, if and when I ever sell the ERA I could find happiness with a small block FFR or similiar. But for once, at least ONCE, I just HAD to have side oiler. Not even bragging rights, it was something deeply personal within myself, a chance to play with and experience the 'holy grail'.