427 side oiler oiling issues

Im in the process of a side oiler build and missed that the no. 2 and 4 cam bearing has an extra hole to oil the heads. So I have the head off and cam out, the cam does have groves in 2 & 4 jrns. Can I drill a hole thru the bearing from the deck surface or should I try to change the bearings.I really dont want to disasemble the rest of the engine. does the correct bearings have a groove from one hole to another or does it use the groove in the cam for that. Thanks Leon

leonmathis wrote:Im in the process of a side oiler build and missed that the no. 2 and 4 cam bearing has an extra hole to oil the heads. So I have the head off and cam out, the cam does have groves in 2 & 4 jrns. Can I drill a hole thru the bearing from the deck surface or should I try to change the bearings.I really dont want to disasemble the rest of the engine. does the correct bearings have a groove from one hole to another or does it use the groove in the cam for that. Thanks Leon

Take it apart and put the cam bearings in . Don' t work harder and spend more money drilling ! Metal shavings in engine , you miss one of those and the engine has to come back apart and do all over again. Just my two cents !

The correct bearings have additional oblong holes which align with the passages leading to the deck; (the number 4 bearing even has an extra hole) ... the oiling system relies on the groove in the camshaft main journals to get oil from one hole to the next.

IF you knew where the holes were supposed to be, (like having an old bearing as a model), you can drill those extra holes in the new regular bearings  The 427 bearing set will cost you 4 times more than the regular set even though the bearings themselves, are the same size.

If you have a long enough 1/8" drill bit, have a way to deburr the holes  and you don't mind metal chips in your engine, those holes CAN be drilled but, in any case, I don't recommend doing that.

In my FE 487. I drilled the cam bearing through the deck of the block. My cam has a groove all the way around the journal.

We'll I Decided to just drill them. It wasn't too bad . To me it was easier than changing the bearings. No problems with chips I just turned up in aluminum piece the same size as the cam journal and put it in so the chips couldnt go through then I took a magnet got the chips outfbefote I pulled the aluminum out. The aluminum piece Kept the bearing from leaving a burr also. Thanks for the info