King Bearing

[Compulsive Horsepower]

Has anybody used them. I have access to a set of their "AM" bi-metal street bearings for the the RB25 rod and mains? I know they are a top bearing manufacture in the industry but Im looking for some hands on expierence with them before I buy them. Thanks
Modified by Compulsive Horsepower at 12:15 PM 7/13/2006

[Joe]

never heard of them.

[Compulsive Horsepower]

Really? They were actually recommended to me by Nick Arias 3rd of Atomic Speedware and Arias pistons. I did some research and they look to be great bearings and they are cheaper than ACL's.

[Carl H]

good bearings from what ive seen/heard.one of my aussie guys who runs a machine shop likes them alot, apparently they can handle more load than the normal tri metal bearing.

[Compulsive Horsepower]

good bearings from what ive seen/heard.one of my aussie guys who runs a machine shop likes them alot, apparently they can handle more load than the normal tri metal bearing.

Thanks for the info. I feel much better and went ahead and bought them. I have done alot of research and these are not too well known in the States yet, but are well known and have a great reputation else where.

[98birdls1]

Nice to see you on here Jim.

Jim @ Compulsive HP is helping me source alot of my parts, and has access to alot of RB stuff. I believe he is also looking into sponsorship for Nico.

He has definately been a big help on with my rebuild. And always willing to do research before we put anything in my motor. Or anyone else's for that matter.

Luke

[Darius]

I talked to the local machine shop here and the guy recommended that I reuse my main bearings even though they show a tiny bit of wear because putting in new bearings could put strain on the crank. He was worried that the crank probably wore on the bearings because they were too tight and that new bearings would bind on the crank and wear back down to what the current ones are now. I compared it to wearing in a pair of shoes to fit your foot.

He told me to put it together and see how everything spins and to make sure nothing is binding. He said if I really wanted to spend some money on it, he could align hone the block and girdle, but that it would be overkill since we're talking tenths of thousandths of an inch. When I had it together, there was no lateral movement in the crank that I could physically see or feel. Longitudinal had a very tiny amount, but well within the FSM specs.

Does anybody disagree with him?

[eh?]

I think he's crazy. Properly mic'd and using the proper bearings there shouldn't be any "binding".I didn't have any issues with that when I built my bottom end with fresh oem bearings.

[rotorimp]

Re-use bearings was he SERIOUS. My advice is find another machine shop. If they are wanting you buy into that kind of shadiness I can only imagine what other "TRICKS" they have up their "Explicative's" DO IT RIGHT or you will be kicking you own butt and waisting allot of money.

[Darius]

yeah he said, "call me crazy, and I very rarely (as in never) tell people to do this, but go ahead and put it together and see how it fits. If it's too loose or too tight, then we'll take steps to correct it. But seeing as how the bearing clearance difference between the RB25 and RB26 rods are so close, it probably isn't worth it to do anything with the rods or their bearings."

I'm still a little nervous about not replacing the main bearings if he said they showed some wear.

[rotorimp]

It is more accurate and the Nissan factory preferred method to use Micrometers not plasti gage to measure clearance. you should know before that motor ever gets torqued what the exact clearance is. I can tell you to the .0001 what the clearance is on all my motors. can you post a pic of one of the bearings? Unless this motor is going into your only transportation and ramen is your favorite dish then I would get a set of bearings.

[Darius]

I tried to upload my main bearing pics into the photo gallery but it wouldn't take them for some reason so hopefully this works.

[Darius]

Girdle2

[Darius]

Girdle3

[Carl H]

the machine shop told you not to replace THOSE main bearings?dude, leave there and never go back those bearings are toast.the 3rd thru 5th bearing are heavily damaged, look at the thrust bearing something had to have happened to cause that...

[98birdls1]

Its a good thing your HG leaked and cause your rebuild. Those are trashed! Find a new machine shop. My bearings looked almost brand new compared to those bad boys.

If he wants to use the original bearings I'll send youmy old ones for free just so you DON'T use those.

I'm believe Jim at CompulsiveHP can get King Bearings for less than the ACL's and they have a pretty good rep. As cheap as bearings are, get some new ones.

Sounds like your machine shop is being lazy and just didn't want to mic anything.

Luke

[Carl H]

yare wish i had taken pics of the bearings in my motor on teardown, they looked nearly brand new and had atleast 140kmi on them and had been put thru their paces more than once...

[jdmser]

here a pic of mine with 60km http://nissaninfiniticlub.net/...t/500 Some of them still had Nissan and the part number on them.

[98birdls1]

My bearings were just like jmdser's, plastigauged everything in spec.

On the other hand my #1 piston look f-ed

And yes the rings came out of the motor like that, seems someone doesn't know how to install them correctly.

Just goes to show you, never know whats happened to a used motor.

[Darius]

oooh those look smooth! alright sounds like I'm in the market for some new rod and main bearings. Do I size the main bearings by the grade on the crank and associated thickness in the FSM? I'll drop that guy a line at compulsive hp tomorrow when I get a chance. Thanks for the heads up guys.

This is what sucks about living in Iowa. There aren't any machine shops and when there are, they are crappy and deal with sloppy throw-away motors all day.

[rotorimp]

The select fit bearings are the way to go--probably going to be hard to find. Just mic. the crank and see if you can find bearings that will give you factory clearance. People who blueprint motors keep to the "loose" side of things on mains/rods--(friction reasons). So a set of standard bearings will most likely land you where you need to be. Just make sure that your in NISSAN spec and you will be ok. BTW--use a quality mic. that is capable to the 10 thousandths and also use quality torque wrench to tighten things down--dont wing it with made in China garbage.

[Darius]

I want to buy an outside micrometer (0"-2" should be sufficient) to verify these dimensions myself since it is proving to be difficult to find a good machine shop locally. The guy I went to that recommended reinstalling these bearings was actually highly recommended to me by a shop that builds domestic race engines year round for stock and sprint cars. I figured he'd be legit but screw it, I'll do it myself.

Does anyone have a good tool source for these? I don't want to go cheap on something where precision is critical. I saw a 0-6" micrometer from mac tools that was $180, but it had a bunch of different attachments. I think a simple 0"-2" would be more accurate and easily zeroed.

So is everyone in agreement that I get the crank micropolished and then size the bearings accordingly? Or should I figure out what bearings are available and mic according to that?

[l0nestar]

You are looking for a 0-2" outside mic that is how precise? .001 or .0001?

I'm looking up Starret gauges in Grainger...

There are advantages to working closely with the QC dept of a NADCAP certified shop. =P

[l0nestar]

Darius,

You would want any of the following:

Starrett:T436xrl-2EDP No: 516071-2" caliper, .0001" accuracy - $107.00

Mitutoyo:102-7181-2", .0001" - 145.00

Digital Caliper with cert.293-3451-2", .00005" - 171.00

I would suggest the Starrett gauge. Mitutoyo is a *good* brand, but Starrett is the top of the line. I'm kinda surprised that they were cheaper of the two. I could not find any 0-2" external calipers though Anyways, HTH.l0nestar.
Modified by l0nestar at 4:39 PM 8/7/2006

[Darius]

Cool thanks man! I googled outside micrometers and starlett was the first one to pop up and I thought the prices were pretty good. That's why I didn't know if they were a good brand or just a cheap rip-off.

I'm looking for .0001" precision and I'll probably add the rachet stop, lock nut, and carbide faces. Here's what I am after and I will probably buy a metric one (V436.1MXRL-50):

http://www.mytoolstore.com/starrett/micro011.html

I think I can find a better price than $124 though.

[l0nestar]

I did a few min of searching and didnt find much. I will look up who our supplier is and get you a price from them. It will be tomorrow though.

[Darius]

I ordered that Starrett micrometer (metric) and dropped the crank off for magnafluxing and micropolishing. My crank collar just came in (along with oil orifices, Krayton and 98birdls1) so while it is in the shop, I'll have him install that too.

Then I'm going to pray for a few days that my journals are within factory spec and round, then I'll measure. Still have to get an inside micrometer for the bearing measurements. I was looking at the Starrett 823MAZ, any opinions?

[bannished-rb]

just installed a set of king rod and main bearings MB7008AM STD for mains,CR6697AM STD rods and havent had any problem just make shure you check your clearence on them first and you should be good

[Darius]

Yeah I ended up buying a set from Compulsive HP and Jim was really helpful in selecting the bearing size. My crank was mic'd and I measured it personally. STD bearing sizes were required and everything has been going good with engine break-in. Things turned smoothly and I'm not concerned in the least.

[ISUJinX]

Not to piss on the campfire... But I detest King bearings. I don't have any firsthand experience with their Import stuff, but their Domestic stuff is crap. I worked at a dirt track race shop in Ames (Know midwest motorsports Darious?) Just about ever set of King bearings I ever sold came back trashed quickly, so I stopped selling them. Perhaps it was because the installers were low budget racers and didn't even want to buy Plastigauge... but the Michigan/Clevites held up much better.