Healey Crankshaft Bearings

[mwagon]

From experience is it best to use name brand Main Bearings & Connecting Rod Bearings, for ensured quality? If so, what brands are recommended? I purchased a set of Main Bearings from a well known supplier, but the Tangs were mis-located causing the Bearing Cap to seat to one side & overhang

 

[Randy Forbes]

Vandervell are probably the most welcomed brand to find. I'm not positive if they were the original supplier (but Vanwell essentially "invented" the thin-walled bearing insert, as opposed to poured babbit white metal).

During the 70s, Vandervell bearings were almost universally supplied, and I don't remember ever having an issue with them.

I've never had any problems with AE bearings either, so they're a good second choice.

King bearings are what the popular suppliers are currently offering; the set I most recently put in (Longbridge 100/6) passed the Plasti-gage test with flying colors, so lets just hope that they hold up in service (they're polymer coated in the applications that I have any involvement with).

Nowadays, whatever bearings I get, I like to add a polymer dry-film lubricant coating to them before installation. Time consuming process, but I like the increased measure of protection, particularly upon cold-start ups.

 

[BoyRacer]

I think the best quality bearings that are presently available for our 6 cylinders engines are made by ACL. They are comparable to Vandervell bearings, that as we all know, are no longer available. I, and many other racers, have had problems with King bearings.
I sell ACL main and rod bearings in sizes .010 and .020. If any one is interested, send me a personal message for prices

 

[mwagon]

Any suggestions on a source for AE Bearings? I'm sure Vandervell's are hard to find, since no longer in production. It appears ACL doesn't make bearings for the 100-4

 

[Randy Forbes]

Any suggestions on a source for AE Bearings? I'm sure Vandervell's are hard to find, since no longer in production. It appears ACL doesn't make bearings for the 100-4

What is Denis Welch selling for their 100s?

 

[Hoghead]

I too am in the market for bearings

What are the problems with King bearings?

AH Spares (UK) are selling bearings and pistons by County. Any experience with these.
At 195 pounds for a piston they must be gold plated

 

[reddsprite]

AE bearings show up on the federal mogul website,so I assume a FM jobber can get AE bearings-call the federal mogul guy and ask him-I guess the question remains if they still do the bottom end stuff for 100-4's

 

[Randy Forbes]

I too am in the market for bearings

What are the problems with King bearings?

AH Spares (UK) are selling bearings and pistons by County. Any experience with these.
<span style="font-weight: bold">At 195 pounds for a piston they must be gold plated</span>

I'm not positive, but I'm thinking that King & County suffer the same reputation.

As for <span style="font-style: italic">plating</span>, there're processes that are much more desirable for a piston than gold; these are new sets of (later wrist-pin style) 100/6 and (Quick's) 3000 pistons with a ceramic-metallic heat shielding (thermal barrier) coating on the crowns, and a dry-film lubricant coating on the skirts.

I took apart a thoroughly polymer coated MGB engine that I had put about 80,000 miles on, and the piston skirts (with DFL coating) looked absolutely as brand new. The dark gray coloring was rubbed away, but the molecular benefits were still in evidence! Imagine seeing "used pistons" with virtually zero scuff marks on them__clearly cold-start benefits alone make the process worthwhile, not to mention reduced friction (cooler running).

 

[Hoghead]

What is the problem with King bearings?

I have a thermal barrier coatings on the piston and head internals on one of my bikes and it is great stuff. Randy - Can you provide a set of coated pistons or do you do this as a ervice

 

[57_BN4]

Due to lack of other brands available I put -010 King tri-metal main bearings in recently and they haven't blown up yet. From memory they were boxed as King and stamped County on the shells which is apparently because County is King's main buyer so they just make em all the same. I believe County is the 'Walmart' of reproduction car parts where they rebrand stuff from all over the world, hence the varying quality issues so often discussed.

After a lot of reading and research I had mixed feelings because a lot of discussions bagged King for being crap. I talked to a local engine builder here that does Mini7 & MGB race engines and they are his preferred choice with zero failures that could be directly attributed to the bearing quality. There are two types, aluminium and Tri-metal and I'd hazard a guess that the aluminium ones have earned King a bad reputation in the past which has stuck.

Like any situation, it is probably easier to blame something new or unknown than to actually pull apart the mechanism that lead to a failure. I wonder how many people grind their crank journals to match the installed bearings or check the installed crush height or crank/tunnel straightness or journal finish or hot tank the crank/block and mechanically clean all the oil galleries... It only takes one variable to be sufficiently out of tolerance and there goes the bearings.

Time will tell whether the bearings perform acceptably in my engine but I'm prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt at this stage.

Andy.

 

[Randy Forbes]

I personally have not had failures of County (waterpumps) or King (bearings) but Richard points out that he and other racers have had problems with the latter.

If it'll hold still long enough, I'll coat anything that'll fit in my oven (3'W x 4'H x 2'D).

I don't solicit work online here per se', as I'm not a paying/advertising sponsor. If you think there's something I might be able to do for you, you should contact me offline via E-mail (address in signature pic) :wink:

 

[mwagon]

Dennis Welch says their Main & Rod Bearings, that they sell & use are County brand. The Federal Mogul site doesn't list engine bearings for a 100-4, so it looks like manufacture options are very limited

 

[dougie]

Dennis Welch says their Main & Rod Bearings, that they sell & use are County brand. The Federal Mogul site doesn't list engine bearings for a 100-4, so it looks like manufacture options are very limited

Shoot Mike an email at A Head 4-Healeys, MikeHollingworth@Ahead4Healeys.co.uk He's sourced me NOS bearings for my 6 in all sizes. He has contacts all over Europe and I'm sure he can help with the 100-4.

 

[Richard Dickinson]

What kind of bearings does Moss sell? 57 BN4 mentions mechanical cleaning of oil galleries. There is a tapered plug in the front of the block that closes the gallery. I read somewhere that you could drill this out and tap it to take a 3/8 NPT plug. Has anyone done this or is there a tapered plug available to replace it?

 

[aeronca65t]

An excellent source of the original Vandervell bearings for British cars is Basil Adams.
He has a lot of NOS stock.

basiladams@yahoo.com

 

[57_BN4]

There is a tapered plug in the front of the block that closes the gallery. I read somewhere that you could drill this out and tap it to take a 3/8 NPT plug. Has anyone done this or is there a tapered plug available to replace it?

Just drill and tap it to 5/16 coarse thread or something similar and draw the plug out with a bolt and a socket. There is one at the back too. You can get replacement ones from the usual places, hammer them back in with a wipe of loctite.

If you are having the engine tank cleaned then it is fairly important to take the plugs out before hand. A good engine reco shop will do it as part of the job.

Andy.

 

[Genos2]

I too am looking for brgs for my BJ7. .020 Rods & mains& std thrust washers.I've been hesitant to order brands other than the old stand-bys that I've used over the years.My crankshaft has been setting in my closet(wrapped)for 15 years, now I'm ready to work on her.

 

[Randy Forbes]

I too am looking for brgs for my BJ7. .020 Rods & mains& std thrust washers.I've been hesitant to order brands other than the old stand-bys that I've used over the years.<span style="font-weight: bold">My crankshaft has been setting in my closet(wrapped)for 15 years, now I'm ready to work on her. </span>

No point in <span style="font-style: italic">rushing</span> things, is there!?

Too bad you didn't order some bearings back then also :laugh:

NOS is always NOS, but there was a period (sometime in the past 20 - 30 years I've had my car) that you couldn't hardly find cam bearings anywhere. I'm glad the parts supply is as good as it is, even if some of them are suspect.

I'm on my way out the door *right now* to (soda) blast, coat and cure a bunch of BMW bearings, and I'll be doing a set of -.010" ACL main bearings from Richard and some std. Vandervell rod bearings for a couple of my own engines.

Pictures at Eleven (11:00)...

 

[BoyRacer]

Here's some clarification about Denis Welch selling King bearings. Yes, he does sell them, but he does not use them in his race engines. In order to buy his "good" bearings you have to buy his forged steel crankshaft that uses different sized bearings.
I sell ACL rod and main bearings that fit the OEM Healey crank and will out perform anything else available. King bearings, that are marketed under the name "County" are not suitable for a high performance Healey engine.
If you have not heard of ACL - Google them. Thye are made in Australia. Back in the day they were sold in the US by BAP-GEON under the name Repco. They are equal in quality to Vandervell.

 

[Genos2]

Randy, my son was born on Christmas in 1996, So my shop full of toys had to take a back seat, I did buy gaskets, rocker bushes downpipes & tailpipes. BoyRacer, I had my own import repair shop & used alot Repco brgs from BAP. Thought they had two different quality lines of brgs, could be wrong.Are the tri-metal? Back in the day my 1st choice was Vandervell, which I believe was bought by Mahle.