whitemetal woes,or the babbit blues on 36Terra

Unknown
Unknown
edited November -1 in HUDSON
Had some quotes on remetalling bearings.From the costs,it seems that they are sending them to Tibet to be worked on by ancient Lamas wearing gold plated overalls,which puts my engine rebuild into the impossible zone.i have an engineering buddy who has done some remetalling on a 20s Rolls,and hes prepared to help me out,but id like to ask the advice of everyone who has some input on this procedure,every bit of info helps,i.e,what grade of hardness/type of metal,pitfalls,correct pouring/agitation,any info please!

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  • Huddy42
    Huddy42 Senior Contributor
    G'Day Skip,



    What ball park are the quotes in, as there is a guy in Nabiac who does the white metal bearings and he may be worth a try. It is an expensive exercise though, not many are doing them these days here.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Big end was $880,mains $902. My mate Chris is confident he can do it,but it may be a misplaced confidence(hope not!).

    It seems that anyone who does poured bearings can charge a lot,as there is very little competition,also those needing the job done are generaly of a demographic that has payed off their mortgages and can afford the expense for their beloved vintage/classic car.

    This may be part of the reason that younger restorers are gravitating towards more easily restored 50s/60s cars.However i did meet a wally who spent over 18k restoring a 1981 holden commodore to immaculate condition,thats taking things a bit far!
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    Skipster

    As you are finding out the old car hobby can get real high dollar in a hurry. You might try some place like Harkin Machine Shop in South Dakota they have a good reputation plus the cost is a little more reasonable even with shipping cost. Others here have used them with great results at a reasonable cost. One thing in this hobby is you will learn to really get out and look for what you want at a fair price. You gotta remember people are in this hobby of providing these services to make a living and not to do you a favor just my two cents worth. Chuck G
  • Jon B
    Jon B Administrator
    Have you considered either sending them to the States for re-babbitting, or purchasing a set of rebabbitted rods (from the States if need be)? They'd be heavy, but I can't believe that the shipping costs to the States would be anything like those to Tibet (LOL!). I'm sure we still have a fair number of qualified companies to do this, from which to choose.



    However, do your homework carefully. I have heard of instances where reently rebabbitted rod bearings failed, even when they had been re-done by highly-regarded people. Ask the Hudson folks who they have used for this service, and what their experience was (assuming they drove the cars any distance after installing the rods). Don't use a questionnable company that might offer a lower price!
  • Park_W
    Park_W Senior Contributor
    I'm with Chuck on Harkin Machine. They've done rods and mains for three eight-cylinder engines of mine. Have the crank done first, then send rods, along with crank journal diameters and desired total ("diametral") clearance (factory spec's were .0005 to .001). The mains are done "semi-finished" so they can be installed in the block and line-bored. The ones I had done a year ago were about $60 per rod and $75 per main.



    One tip ... have the big ends of the rods weighed before you send them, to be sure the weights are close enough that they can be balanced before reinstallation. I neglected to do that last time and had to discard two $60 rebabbitted rods because they were too much heavier than the rest. Ouch!
  • Jim Kilday
    Jim Kilday Expert Adviser
    Ditto on using Terry Harkin at Harkin Machine. He's your man.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Thanks for the great info folks,just rang Harkins and was really pleased with the quote,so will send the mains off next week.The rod bearings seem fine,is it worth redoing them or justgrinding the crank to suit?i have sourced a good unground crank from a 34 terra that should do the job,but will ask about this on a seperate post.
  • Geoff
    Geoff Senior Contributor
    It depends on the condition of the crank, and it's size relative to the rods. If it is serviceable, then re-bore the rods to fit, or if it si suspect, then grind to crank to fit the rods - the choice is yours. I had a block with a good set of mains in it, so I ground the crank to suit, and that was 27 years ago and still going. in my experience, if the white metal is still good, and the clearance is correct, then you can use them. do check for cracks though. Just heat them up slightly, and if there are cracks you will see the oil ciming out. Going rate for remetalling is around $120 to $150 per bearing here in N.Z. $880 for three mains seems excessive.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Too right it does,here in Melbourne there seems to be a bit of "price fixing " going on.Two machine shops said they wouldnt do the line bore if i got the white metalling done elsewhere,i got the feeling that thats where they were making their money.Harkin machine quoted $48 usd per journal,which was a whole lot cheaper than anyone in melbourne,even including postage.There are a couple of small workshops in rural Australia that i havnt tried yet,will update later.Thanks for the info folks
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