Rover V8 Conrod bearing scores

[cinquecento]

I'm keen on rebuilding my RV8 engine one day..so I bought a $50 wreck of an engine with unknown history to pull apart, measure and learn.

I pulled a conrod out and am a bit stuck on why the outside of the conrod bearing is more scored than the inner. The inner surface looks quite good but I don't quite get why the OD would be scored. It has tangs to stop it spinning yet there are visible scrapes along the outside of the bearing surface.

Any ideas why?

[GreenV8S]

I don't see any scrapes on the outside - are you looking at marks from when it was formed? If you're expecting the outer face to be shiny, that isn't normal and would actually suggest the bearing isn't clamped properly and is shifting.

May be a trick of the light but the insides look as if you may have worn through the bearing material and exposed the backplate.

[cinquecento]

Thanks for helping Peter..here's a hopefully better quality image of the bearings

[stevieturbo]

Tangs are for alignment, not to prevent spinning...and they will not prevent spinning.

Whilst there are marks on the rear, the fact the tangs appear un-marked and undamaged, as well as bearing face looking fairly decent....I cant see how the bearings could have spun.

[Boosted LS1]

Is it discolouration and/or a bit of fretting. Can you actually feel scoring with your finger nail?

[Mignon]

It's all perfectly normal. The steel shells are rolled into semicircles and the marks on the outside are just roller marks. The bearing surface has only worn through the flash coating of the top soft layer which is just a few tenths of a thou thick and you can see the shinier harder layer of the main substrate material. They would have carried on perfectly well for many thousands of miles.

[Steve_D]

That would be my luck.
Buy a crap engine and find it in better condition than the one you started with.

Steve

[Evoluzione]

Yeah they look fine, when they've spun you'll know all about it!
I recently bought a dodgy looking Duratec locally on Ebay for the princely sum of £160, I expected to find all sorts, but on stripping it down it was mint, almost a shame to break it open really.
I think it's a great idea to buy a cheap one to gain the knowledge from.

[Sardonicus]

Agree with whats been said already regarding the backing finish it wont be fantastic on unbranded/white box branded bearings IMO (I presume thats what you have) its why they are cheaper here is a 20 odd year old used branded Vandervell RV8 main brg for comparison.............. ....

Edited by Sardonicus on Thursday 26th April 11:29

[Boosted LS1]

^ I remember those, back in the day. Hugely expensive but an excellent bearing.

[Sardonicus]

Boosted LS1 said:

^ I remember those, back in the day. Hugely expensive but an excellent bearing.

Bizarrely enough factory fit from TVR well TVR Power as they are called now, its got Clevite/Mahle 77's in it now, use to fit VP all the time when I was into fast push-rod Ford's back in the 80/90's

[Boosted LS1]

I think Federal Mogul bought Vandervall and now we don't get a tri metal bearing, fully leaded and indiumed or something like that.

[Sardonicus]

Boosted LS1 said:

I think Federal Mogul bought Vandervall and now we don't get a tri metal bearing, fully leaded and indiumed or something like that.

I didnt know that I find the whole Clevite/Mahle thing strange too really , brake friction companies gone the same way like TMD friction owning Textar, Mintex, Don, Pagid etc

[Boosted LS1]

Just a start.

http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/engine/cs211.htm

[Sardonicus]

Boosted LS1 said:

Just a start.

http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/engine/cs211.htm

Ah yes back in the day we just referred to these as copper/lead bearings e.g its got good quality heavy duty bearings fitted Sorry to take this off topic slightly but interesting all the same didnt know about the Vandervell Glacier re-branding take-over thing always looked at Glacier for a bog stock rebuild

Edited by Sardonicus on Friday 27th April 09:38

[cinquecento]

Boosted LS1 said:

Can you actually feel scoring with your finger nail?

Hi Mike,

Yes..but very faintly.. I don't know the manufacture (no markings)...

Thanks everyone for your comments..

[Ive]

Mahle Motorsport bought them.
They still manufacture the trimetal bearings.

I fitted them (branded as Mahle Motorsport) on my last supercharged Rover K I build.

http://www.vandervell.co.uk

[Boosted LS1]

^Are they still lead indium? I looked on the site and couldn't see if that was so.

[Sardonicus]

Ive said:

Mahle Motorsport bought them.
They still manufacture the trimetal bearings.

I fitted them (branded as Mahle Motorsport) on my last supercharged Rover K I build.

http://www.vandervell.co.uk

Mahle certainly seem to have their fingers in many pies

Edited by Sardonicus on Saturday 28th April 21:14

[Ive]

According to this they still do. The Trimetal bearings use a indium-lead alloy.
http://www.mahle-aftermarket.com/media/media-globa...



Page 5:
„An overlay is required to increase the soft-phase properties and provides a further opportunity to fine tune the balance of properties. Lead-Indium has been proven at the highest level of motorsport to offer the optimum combination of hard-phase and soft- phase properties. The thickness and Indium content can be varied to suit the application.“