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Doing a rebuild on a 1947 356 9main bearing Super Clipper. I needed to replace one connecting rod. The replacement rod has the squirter hole open. On the rods I took out of the engine all 8 rods had the squirter hole peened closed. Which is the correct style? Thanks, Craig

Oil holes should face the camshaft side of the engine and all should be open to lubricate the cylinder wall expecially on the power stroke. Perhaps you had an "oil burner" and some butcher thought he was solving the problem? A bit scary to think of the consequences if the engine was driven much with the holes closed. IIRC the hole in the rod aligns with a hole in the upper bearing shell and this aligns with the oil feed oil in the crankshaft just at the point when the piston is at (or near?) the top of the stroke. Someone who has had one apart more recently will correct me if I'm wrong on this.

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Thanks for the comment. I was wondering why anyone would close the holes. It certainly wouldn't do much for oil pressure and bad rings were the only other reason I could think of. I would have thought if rings were that bad though the engine would have also been a challenge to start.

Long shot possibility:
Checke the pistons. Are they "T" slotted or have some other kind of slot in the skirt of the piston???

PackardV8, I don't think it makes any difference whether you have solid-skirted cast pistons or autothermic strut pistons, you don't close off the squirt hole that oils the cylinder wall.

PackardV8, it makes no difference whether you have solid-skirted cast pistons or autothermic strut pistons, you don't deprive the cylinder walls of lubrication and the piston of cooling.

Owen Dyneto:
Yes, i agree. There is no valid reason to block off the oil hole in the rod. My concern was whether or not the pistons were installed correctly. If oil hole was blocked off then perhaps incorrect position of the piston relative to the T slot had occured too by a previous owner. At this point we don't know anything about the pistons in this particular engine. Since there is a rod issue then maybe a piston issue too. Usually a piston issue follows a rodd issue (visa-versa) in these kind of situations where butcher work has been done.

Hopefully the owner of this engine will check the piston position and type of piston.

Wow! Thanks guys for the rapid response and info. Yes, there is a slot on the piston skirts of the original and replacement pistons. I believe the squirter holes should still be there. Ever who restricted them in the past may have caused the damage that did occur to this engine. This engine is from a new owner who just purchased the car, so history is unknown. It has approx 68000 miles on it. The engine had a replacement cylinder head and newer bearings in it. Don't know why these had been replaced maybe an overheat or ? in the past. Engine was taken out because it smoked (alot) and ran rough. We found the cam was worn (like an old small block Chevy), lifter followers were torn up, and hyd. lifters were seized in the followers. Pistons were scuffed and cylinder bores were worn. Also valves and guides were worn. We also found a connecting rod that was "S" bent and twisted. The damaged rod appears to have been there for awhile, beacuse of the lower wear marks at the top of the bore on that cylinder. I believe the cam/lifter situation may have been caused by the restricted squirters. I have done a few other 356's in the past and always noticed the squirters were open. I was wondering about the squirters being closed off on this engine. Thought maybe someone could explain it, because it seemed wrong to me. Looks like on Thursday I am drilling out squirter holes! Thanks again, Craig

ok. But were the pistons installed correctly or were they installed backwards???

Were the rods installed correctly or were the rods installed backwwards??? I have reason for asking these questions relative to the problems u cite.