Im wondering which bearings are better to use. Im building a 331 hemi and the only bearings i can find are the falcon or the king. Id prefer to use a clevite or acl but they dont make bearings for it. Let me know what you guys have used and which ones you prefer. Thanks, Jim
KING Bearings are made in Israel, and are some of thee finest bearings in the world. We use them as well as many other top engine builders on some very high end and very high H.P. Racing engines, TR
Why are some people saying the king bearings are to soft for street use? Makes no sense at all. You dont use a harder bearing on a stock crank. it will tear it up. The king is alot cheaper than the falcon.
Since the old 'tri-metal' bearing are long gone you get one choice: King. Yes, on rod bearings you can fool around with something else if you change rods or journal sizes. This is commonly done. King bearings are a bit soft but as you know that can be an advantage since garbage will imbed in the bearing rather than dig into the crank. If you look hard enough you might find an old set of Vandervell or Nylen, I think they were the last of the 'small' bearing companies and since they don't have huge name recognition there may be some overlooked sets 'out there'. .
I can't speak for the King bearings, but there was a time when TRW/Clevite recommended the "M" series (microbabbit) bearings instead of the "P" series (Clevite 77) for fuel dragster use, even though the M strength and fatigue strength was lower. I believe it was because the "conformability" of the M was better, so they would survive rod big ends and main bores tipping and going out of round a little better. The "Direct Connection" June 1982 race bulletin #10 for the 426 Hemi engine says this. "There are three different types of main bearings for the Hemi engine - Aluminum P2836116, F77 TriMetal P236118 and babbit P3412037. The babbit bearibngs are recommended for drag racing usage." The same bulletin has "packages" of recommendations for buiilding engines for different types and levels of racing. For ProStock drag racing the recommendation was babbit type rods and mains, replaced every 20 runs. For Nascar the recommendation was Tri_Metal F77 rods and mains.
This guy is supposedly connected with mahle Clevite. he refers to a modified "V" (using metallurgy developed by vandervell) for top fuel type applications. http://underthehood.mahleclevite.com/?p=169 On another thread he talks about the general differences in bearing material behaviour
I went thru Hot Heads, recieved Clevite bearings- they were much more $, I had $500 in bearings alone, check with him.
There's a big difference between bearings for a fuel engine that's going to be changed out fairly often vs a typical street engine when we don't want to be going back in.
Fuel engines have zippers on them don't they ? 950 revolutions under load over 4 seconds. And out they come.
Let us know the sizes. I have a set of NOS F-M std rod bearings on the shelf. I might have others, I'd have to dig around.
I just got some 392 main bearings from egge machine and they came in a white box in pretty rough shape. Who manufactures these bearings for egge? I need some good .01 main bearings. Where can I get them? Not having much luck finding them. It appears speedway uses egge and the white box as well.
Call King: King Engine Bearings, Inc. 371 Little Falls Road, Suite 5 Cedar Grove, NJ 07009 USA Phone: 1-973-857-0705 Toll Free: 1-800-772-3670 Fax: 1-973-857-3228 Email: inquiry@kingbearings.com
I called them and they say they don't have them. Mike in tech. I sort of remember having already putting a call into king. Anyway. I called egge and they said the white box bearings were federal mogal. I said how do I know that and he said cause that's where he ordered them from. I say ok. He said their may be a fm part number on the bearing. I don't know as they aren't with me. Are these decent if they are fed mogul?
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