I HAD A 54 CHEVY CAR YEARS AGO AND THE RODS WERE A BIT NOISY, THEN I FOUND OUT THE ROD CAPS HAD SHIMS ON THEM THAT I COULD REMOVE AND QUIET DOWN THE RODS, I HAVE A 53 TRUCK, DOES IT HAVE THE SAME SHIMS, (hope so, i now have the same problem)
Babbit Rod Bearings Yes , it does if the rocker box is held on by two acorn nuts on the top ~. If the rockerbox is held on by four screws around the edge , then no , you cannot shim the rods but simply replacing the bvearing shells usually does the trick just fine . The original shims were made of brass and machine shops sell the various thickness needed , cut the sheet stock with scissors to match the correct shape . OR , you can go to any F**d Model A part supplier and ask for laminated mylar bearing shims , they're far easier as you simply peel off the layers until you reach the correct shim thickness needed.... If you peel off too many layers , you can simply stack them . Use " Plastigauge " to determine the clearance needed . To figure out which rod bearing is loose , warm up the engine and slow down the idle until the knock is audible , then either short out the spark plugs one by one or pull off the plug wires one at a time , until the knocking stops ~ that'll be the loose rod . I think there are other posts about this in the archives.
Please ! Order up an original shop manual for a '49 ~ '53 Chevy pickup and read the section on rod bearing shims ~ maybe find an old Motors Manual that covers pre - 1955 Chevys , it too will have clearly written instructions on properly adjusting ther rod bearing shims as it's done more by feel than anything else , you remove the spark plugs and turn the engine by hand , shim it up a bit and test turn it again , if more drag it's too tight , add a bit more shim , try again and so on . I am sure it'll be OnLine in Fo^d Model 'A' repair instructions too , once you get a feel for how it's done , it's not too difficult and if you screrw it up , it was broken anyway so no harm done . Remember : good running bolt in used engines are #250.00 or LESS anywhere in America... I hope this helps .
