Check out my 427 Side Oiler barn find!

[Adger Smith]

I remember reading about Hollman - Moody building everthing from the Ford parst department. So if it did come from them it could have mixed & matched parts. Like nothing that came in a car from Ford. Remember the big Ford parts sale when they closed down?
I had a guy bring in a engine he swore was a 427 and it turned out to be a 428 w/med riser top end. I know no one had messed with it. I'm pretty sure I was the first to go into it. It had no signs of being worked on. All bearings and gaskets had ford ID and #'s. It had H&M ID tag and V-covers. No telling what the history is..... the carb # diff is the choke plate in one.

[Mike Pearson]

Jeff,

Be real careful before you buy the engine. Check to see if it was a saltwater cooled engine. If so the block and heads could be rusted so bad that they would be unusable. I live in florida and have a raw water cooled boat. The corosion is unbelievable. I do not see a heat exchanger in the picture so the engine could have been raw water cooled.

Good Luck on your find.

[Mart Jeltema]

Jeff, If the engine is for sale yet give me a call or e-mail me
616-890-8667 cell
powermart1@att.net

Thanks,
MJ

[west coast]

Not all 427 are side oilers very few are. There are alot more (but still rare) 427 crossbolt with screw in freeze plugs out there. A friend found a 427 crossbolt bolck with screw in freeze plug (not a side oiler) this summer up here in Washington. I think they found some of the other parts for it as well it was torn down. It was for sale I dont know if he still has it.

[Jeff Lee]

Guess I need to go back for another look with my Ford buddy. I had a hard time figuring a 5 from a 6 for example. Needed a pocket knife. And I'll bring a flashlight to see if there is a side oiler. I thought all 427's with cross-bolt and screw-in freeze plugs were SO blocks.
The carb #'s check out for this, what's with the needle and seat? Different for marine than street?

[Jeff Lee]

I should have taken a picture of the boat as it's a real pile. The owner's son-in-law is my engine machinist, Bud Yancer / MACH Development. He told me they took it to the lake back in the early '70's and it went 80 MPH and you could barely control the boat as the steering was shot and set up for something like 35 MPH!
I don't own this, I just have the storage yard listed for sale. There's 75-100 cars on site and maybe 10 are worth looking at. The rest is scrap value.
There's a '69 M code Cougar Eliminator but all is gone except a roof, trunk and left rear quarter panel. A decent '67 390 a/t Cougar (non GT complete) and also a decent & complete 302 2bbl '69 Cougar. Two '56 Ford station wagons and a '69 M code Mach 1 that needs both quarters replaced; looks like somebody had a pair of snow chains let loose on them. The wagons and Mach are rolling chassis. Also might have a a complete '70 Maverick straight 6 with manual trans. Thought that was sold but that may fall apart. Some complete flat head engines and some 428-429 blocks. Oh and a 390-406 3x2 intake and carbs.
The old guy is 83 and wants the yard sold as his IRA or whatever he had his money in is now in the toilet. He want's to keep the cars, kind of like his toy box but I'll bet if it sells it will include everything. It's 1.17 acre in Phoenix and a good industrial location.
I have the engine sold pending inspection and Bud gets a rebuild out of it. I get the favor of help on my race engine. I received a PM on this today and he will get 2nd dibbs if it falls through. But I doubt it will. The guy is buying it before he even has a '67 Fairlane but they aren't too hard to find. If somebody has a real nice '67 Fairlane suitable for a ground up (rust free) restoration with clutch pedals in it, pass it buy me.

I do see cross-bolt mains on the block with screw-in freeze plugs. I couldn't see the side oiling but the exhaust manifold was in the way and the boat deck felt like it could collapse so I wasn't having fun. I think the cross-bolt mains tells me it is a 427 SO block. I think it was a fresh water boat. I'm told the engine still rotated about 5 years ago but who knows now. That's why the sale is pending, have to make sure the engine isn't shot internally.

[Billy Nees]

In re. to Kevins post, I worked in a boat shop for a while and saw quite a few MARINE side oilers and I don't believe they are the same as a car side oiler.

[Dale Shannon]

Side oiler block has a galley casted in block down the (SIDE OF BLOCK)
All 406's do not have cross-bolts, same bore as 428, and solid lifters only.
True marine carbs should have J-tubes in bowls even back then
Counter-rotate is only cam change and is PORT engine left from back of boat, was done mainly on Hi-po boats to help go straight-er,
What a great find I would be like a kid in a candy store.
Dale

[Dave Casey]

My parents had 2 early 70's chriscraft boats with 427 salt water cooled engines in them.Even though they kept the boats on the ct river an hour from the ocean, the water takes its toll on the heads and block. Each of these boats had 2 427 motors in them, 1 reg and 1 reverse rotation. The rotation is a non issue to convert. There may not be any corrosion issues on Jeff's find because of where the boat is and how it was used. I know that the motors in my parents boats had cross bolts, but i don't think they were side oilers.

The first boat burned while in storage during the winter in a boat yard fire, we ended up selling the motors to an 427 ford guy.

The second boat was repowered with 454 gm motors, don't think those 427's were usable

[Rory McNeil]

[QUOTE=Dale Shannon;160284]Side oiler block has a galley casted in block down the (SIDE OF BLOCK)
Counter-rotate is only cam change and is PORT engine left from back of boat, was done mainly on Hi-po boats to help go straight-er,
I was under the impression that the Ford 427 Marine engines would have a crankshaft with the rear main seal grooves reversed, wouldn`t using such a crankshaft in the standard rotation be likely to have oil leaks in the rear main, due to the grooves pushing oil towards the seal, rather than flinging it away? Also, I would imagine the distributor would also be designed for reverse rotaion, not that anybody would use a marine dist in a car.
I also have to wonder if 40 years of having the block loaded in 1 direction would possibly cause strength concerns under "heavy" usage with the rotation switched? As for the side oiler vs top oiler, I believe that all the 300 HP 427 Ford marine engines were cast with the side oiler "bulge" down the drivers side of the block, but were left undrilled. I suppose a really good machinist may be able to drill the passages out, but due to the passage running the length of the block, & a "cut out" for motor mounts in that area, such an attempt is quite risky. Personally, I`ve be racing 428 FE`s for 30 years, and 390`s before that, which are of the top oiler design, and have never had any oil deivery related failures after a few modifications were made to the original oiling setup. Myself, I wouldn`t be too concerned about not having a side oiler block. The side oilers were mainly designed for NASCAR & endurance road racing, but for the typical drag or street type FE engine, not needed. There seems to be a bunch of mystical hype surrounding the side oiler 427`s, but it`s mainly by the semi uninformed, who "need" to have a "correct" side oiler block for their fiberglass kit car copy of a AC Cobra.