I came across this auction for a 27 Chevy truck on eBay and noticed that the pushrods were completely exposed. Did Chevy actually do this to the early 4-cyl. motors? Why? Wouldn't the lifters be completely exposed to the weather and dirt? What keeps water from getting into the crankcase?

Good observation, and they didn't have valve covers until 1925. It was 1928 before they placed the pushrods under cover.

Really? I usually stick with the '35-
'46 years and never followed earlier years till now. But what I don't get is why crap doesn't get into all of the moving parts?

Who said it didn't?

Weird design flaw, isn't it?

It wasn't a design flaw...... at that time it was current "engineering technology"! :eek: :eek:

We've come a long way, haven't we?

Yes, but that all depends upon how you look at it. At least on the old Chevrolets, like the four-cylinder jobs, the owner could work on his own car.

There's a certain joy derived from getting under the hood every 50 miles or so and manually oiling everything with an oil can. :p

I like the simplicity of the whole thing, but it seems like such an obvious improvement to just put a side cover on it (not making fun of Chevrolet in any way), but I guess they did it for a reason. Very interesting. I like seeing all of the mechanical parts in engines, especially the rockers and pushrods in motion. Cool!!!

Regular maintenance was a must. Inside the owners manual, at the center pages, was a Lubrication Chart, that was to be taken out and posted on the wall by the vehicle. Numerous places required maintenance at 250 mile intervals. Having no valve cover nor side plate you could easily lubricate these points with the oil can in the rack on the firewall.

Neat! That's cool the way things were done back then.

Its probably worth remembering that 1927 was a LONG time ago. The World economy was pretty dismal at that time also. Vehicles' like our Chevs that were really aimed at the common man were built on very tight budgets to be sold at very low prices and they included the barest of luxuries. If it was cheaper to omit stuff like side covers to save a few pennies per vehicle then the manufacturers would go for it. Bean counters were as prevalent as much then as now! (Curse those bean counters!)
BTW Bob, Nice to see such a young chev nut contributing to the forum. Keep it up!
West-Oz.

I don't think the us economy was that bad in '27, as the beginning of the great depression was more than a year away and vehicles were already selling by the tens of millions...

but technology of the time and the cost of that technology was still relatively high...

if the side cover were to have cost an extra $1.33 - about $14.67 in today's dollars - in the production of the vehicle, then multiplied by millions, it would severely impact the manufacturer's bottom line...


epi

Thanks a lot guys!

My 1915 Amesbury has a valve cover and so do the FA-FB series, as these were mucher higher priced (15 Amesbury $985, 16 490 $490) I'd say it was all about saving the bucks
Chris

Just my opinion, but I think chevy was trying to get a price advantage on the **** t model

What might be a good point to remember is really how much action the pushrods do without moveing very much, it isn't as if there were parts rotating against bearings etc. just some up and down movements and even the rockers just do that, rock up and down, the cam shaft gets splashed and has oil dripping and being slung at it, so a good setup like the overhead valve action is good engineering. Have you ever seen an engine like Lindberg flew across the Atlantic ocean while it is running? where do you think the pushrods were on it?

Pushrod covers probably evolved from a Federal mandate that was thought up by some tree hugging feminazi, liberal, communist, politician and F0RD stockholder that hated Chevrolets, Harley Davidisons, and America!

as Earl Pitts says:
Wake Up America!

The Spirt of St. Louis used Chevrolet pushrods? Wow!!! ha ha ha!

JYD OHValves make sense when your cylinders look like pineapples and stick out from the crankcase like peddels on a daisey flower!

So....the Spirit of St. Louis had a Daisy Flower too? Amazing! :eek: :eek: :confused: :confused:

Yep kinda like them daiseys over on the 49 -54 page!...counting flowers on the wall....don't bother me at all...

By the way Tim, the U.S. economy was flying high in 1927, 1928 and even 1929 until that fatefully dismal day Nov 1, 1929 when the shock came that the stock market took a 40 foot nose dive into a wet hanky the day before, well, sometime in the last week of October, 1929.

Revisit my post and you will see that I said World Economy. Economic conditions in Australia were not too great, having never fully recovered from WW1, as was the case for many other countries. You may also find that if you talk to people that were around in the late twenties that although nationally the US economy seemed fairly robust, it was not so rosy for the average Joe and the inevitable crash was not so suprising, at least that is the impression I get from my limited history study.
Tim.

I have always heard that decisions at Chevrolet were always made by committee (read "compromises" needed) and at Furd decisions were made by 1 man (with no debate).

Both ways to make decisions had and have pros and cons...

PS...Tim is right about the "average Joe's" condition and the poor in the 20's in the US.

Tim That is undoubtly true, however the US economy is what drove the actions of GM and hence Chevrolet, Their cars were becoming more complex and more fancy to accomodate the US Market, Like the evolution of the cabin heater from manifold heat to hot water, roll-up windshields that made the multidirectional ventilation system possible, comfortable interiors etc, etc. The absence of pushrod covers also evolved and the many improvements to the Chevrolet reflected the rapidly changeing automotive technology except at F0RD where they were still trying to play "plow bolt power" with a much less efficient engine design by adding more cubic inches and more cylinders, hence the need for the flathead V/8 engine to compete with the "New" 29 Chevrolet six. As to the committee decision making policy, that was also new technology compared to the single monarch doing all the thinking "Seveal heads are better than one!".