Do you know of any places that could re-build the original babbitt bearings? Like I said, I know of none.
I don't know of anyone who is reconditioning Babbit rods any more, but there are a lot of them available on Ebay, etc. The process GM used to apply the bearing material to the rods was known as "centrifugal casting"- - - - -the rod was heated and spun in a lathe-like fixture, and molten Babbit metal was sprayed into the big end of the rod. The result was a thin, very durable layer of bearing material that bonded itself to the rod. Most reconditioning procedures involved casting a layer of metal into the rod and boring it to whatever diameter was needed, standard or undersize according to whether or not the crankshaft had been reground. Final oil clearance adjustment was accomplished by adding shims between the rod and the cap. As rods wore a little, shims were removed to correct the clearance.
Rods can be bored out to accept insert-type bearings, but those bearings are getting hard to find, also. .020" undersize conversion bearings are impossible to find, according to several machinists I know, so crankshaft rod journals must be reground to either .010" or .030" undersizes. There is also a rod bearing available for a Massey-Ferguson tractor engine that can be fitted to the stovebolt Babbit rod with a different crankshaft diameter, .060" smaller than standard. That bearing can be used to reclaim a crank that has already been reground 30 under, one that would normally be scrapped. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
