FE Power Forums
FE Power Forums => FE Technical Forum => Topic started by: 64PI on April 14, 2019, 02:46:39 PM
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With spring finally coming in Upstate NY I decided to get my Galaxie ready for the road. I pulled the plug on the oil pan and noticed a lot of fur on the end of the magnet. I cut the oil filter apart and noticed bearing material. So out with the engine and I tore it down to find all of the cam bearings trashed. The center 3 more so than 1 and 5. All on the load side. The engine never gave any signs of a issue the last time I had it out. Oil pressure was always great, No odd noises and it ran 11.14 @ 118mph. This engine has approx 2500 miles on it and 30 or so passes on it. I believe these bearings were Clevites and the cam spun with no issues when I installed it. I installed the bearings with the oil hole at the 4-5 o'clock position. There is no discoloration on the cam journals or bearing showing any starvation of oil. But the bearing material just appears to be delaminating. The rods and mains look beautiful with only a few slight scratches from debris. I will check the cam for straightness and see how it spins with new bearings. This is a flat tappet engine so I'm not running a lot of spring pressure. Not really sure where else to look or what to put the blame on. Any thoughts are appreciated.. Thanks. Fred.
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Probably not related but I bought a set of Durabonds about 1.5 years ago that were so soft I did not use them. You could knick them with your fingernail, the guy that did my engine machining agreed.
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Durabond makes almost all the cam bearings despite the label on the box. I think the only exception might be ACL.
That looks like a defective part to me - total overplate adhesion failure. I do not know about Durabond's manufacturing process, but when we made multi-layer rod & main bearings at F-M they required a nickel dam between the steel and the overplate for adhesion between layers - if that nickel was incorrect or missing the bearing would look a lot like your picture.
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Barry, what is your #1 choice of cam bearing? I'm looking at ordering the FP-33 bearing set. I work in the Plating/Metal finishing industry so I can understand the adhesion failure off of the base material. Thanks for your input.. Fred.
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Are the King or Clevites any good?
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Won't matter if its a Durabond, F-M, Clevite, or King on the box. It'll be a Durabond bearing inside. Odds are that this was simply a defective run of parts, and another normal set would be fine. Durabond does sell a performance line, where they run a steel roller around the I.D. to increase the density of the babbitt - I suppose those might be incrementally better. Or you might try the ACL parts which are made in Australia - I think they are the only true alternative.
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I thought King made most of their stuff...Are you referring to the FP-33T bearing?
I thought I saw somewhere the ACL could be made in Mexico. I guess it doesn't matter as long as the operator does their job and materials are good...
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Durabond does sell a performance line, where they run a steel roller around the I.D. to increase the density of the babbitt - I suppose those might be incrementally better.
Lemme axe again. Were you referring to the FP-33T number bearing? Only trying to gather more info on what's out there.....Thanks
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Cant be 100% positive about everybody, anymore - - been too long since I was in the bearing industry. But the formed round bearings were not easy to make and while all the industry "players" made their own rods and mains, they purchased and repackaged the cam bearings from Durabond. Durabond had a patent on the process at one time. A lot of OEM cam bearings were made from flat strip, where you could get better materials and easier manufacturing at the same time. The flat bearing was then rolled and connected in a puzzle lock joint. But the "puzzle lock" design is a real PITA to install at the local machine shop level and was never popular. F-M tried to do a flat strip bearing with a laser weld for a while. It worked well but was not financially sound and they went back to Durabond.
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A side note on the babbit density, My father had an
old guy to cast a rodbearing for a Model-T. I made
a short stump in the late same dia as the crank highly
polished, He torqued the rod down on it and spun
the lathe till the rod started smoking let it cool and
the bearing had a mirror finnish and much harder surface
He said it was an old trick, to get the babbit bearings to
last longer in souped up engines
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Were you referring to the FP-33T number bearing?
Guess I'll never know.......
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My apologies to the OP for derailing.
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What are you trying to discover?
The "T" in a Durabond number just refers to a coating applied to their normal product.
Has nothing to do with the supplier, or the metallurgy.
On something as soft as a Babbitt cam bearing its probably more cosmetic than functional.
We tossed a sample through the spectroscope at F-M and it looked like it was a lead bearing coated with...lead.
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"Discover" anything I can, LOL. Just call me curious George. I am a dumb kid and will openly admit that.
When you mentioned the higher end Durabond's, that is why I asked if you were referring to the FP-33T. I didn't know if it was ONLY the coating that was different. I knew it had the extra coating, but didn't know if they used the other manufacturing process you mentioned. It seems a bit steep to charge double for the thin coating they put on them, so I will just be using the standards and applying my own coating...
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Fred,
Are you going to have it back on the road in time for Hemmings Musclepalooza at Lebanon Valley May 26th?
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This is the first I've heard about the lebanon valley event. I'm hoping to have my galaxie back up and running by mid may but I don't believe I will make it out for that one..