Hey gang, I have a 400 sbc that I am in the middle of building and have a quick question, there are 3 plugs on the front of the engine near the cam hole that are about 1/4 or so in size, I think these are for the oil gallery. I am going to be running a high volume oil pump and was wondering if it would be a good idea to drill and tap those holes for screw in plugs. I have seen it done on other motors and am curious what role the plugs play.

 

If they are the 3 I am thinking of they should be plugged. If the block was cleaned and preped by a shop then they removed the plugs to run a brush through the oil passages and didn't reinstall them.

 

those plugs, and the three in the back are the ends of the holes that are drilled through the block for the oiling system, they are called oil gallys. the center one feeds oil to the camshaft, crank and rods, the side ones feed the lifters. i deally they should be pipe plugged ( threaded) but you could just use the cup plugs and stake them it. the rears are threaded from the factory. if you do decide to thread them, take a real good look inside them and make damb sure you dond drive the plug in far enough to block any verticle passage that they feed.

on a nother note, reconsider the high volume pump, there are many negetives to this, including distributor wear, and oil pan capacity. a high volume pump will empty a stock pan at high rpm. and will more easily cavitate. a properly built motor with proper clearances does not need one, in fact it will most likely hurt the engine