I think that I have found the cause of low oil pressure in my V12 engine. Could any of you gents point me towards a size (dimension) bearing list/site? I do have a spare block with good bearings, but hate to deplete my "stash" especially if a suitable replacement is commercially available. Any guess as to what caused this to fail in this manner? It looks as if it was literally ground away, but the journal looks normal. This is from the #2 main bearing on my ALF 12
that looks to have been loaded weird, something is not straight...... ok Ill translate better (BBQ on here) overloaded bearing by something that is not machined properly, crank, tunnel bores , cap not fitting properly? investigate as a replacement bearing will do the same (youll need to strip to clean out all the crap anyway)
If that is out of the Auburn I think I'd be paying a visit to the guys in the back room at the Auburn-Cord-Deusenberg museum and quiz them on where they get their bearings. Did that car/engine sit for a serious number of years before you got it running? While the streaks in the bearing are from dirt or foreign material the beat up looking area may be the result of acid etching.
Ironically, I DO work as a volunteer at the Museum, and we have to source (search) almost all of the parts we need, but thanks for the thought! The engine HAD BEEN sitting before I got it running once again
I'm no authority, but it does look like corrosion doesn't it? edit: loaded weird? That guy must be correct. http://www.spridgetguru.com/TA0027.html
King has an extensive line of bearings. Mahle is also a likely source as they now own a lot of the old line American names in engine parts. I'd think either of them would be able to tell you if they have anything that will interchange since they'd undoubtedly have listing by dimension in house regardless of whether those listings may be published online, or not. For best results, call and talk to someone in tech assistance at whatever company you may contact. Emails often get lost in the shuffle and end up with no response.
Here is an update. I spoke with a very helpful fellow at Mahle, and he is still looking for bearings. (All 4 of the mains are completely different widths and styles) And I have some numbers on bearings from a spare engine. I have a nearly complete short block that I have been working on a bit at a time that I intend to put that into the car.
@Truck64- I read the paper(link) that you posted. It is correct in "HOW" the oil moves in/on Bearings. I thought you all might enjoy these pics. I call the bottom one "Melted Heart" as I am sad that this thing took a crap, and it is a textbook example showing how the bearing got hot enough to melt the Babbit, how it ran down, cooled, and formed this unusual shape. This is the FRONT side of the Thrust bearing, and since the Crank is now pushed forward, the Heart could form in that (new) gap