I seem to recall someone telling me about the babbit process. Am I right that the babbit is cast onto the rod journals, and then machined to spec?
We have auto engineering and auto tech programs at my university, and every so often I'll get some of those students in my principles economics classes. Once I had two great young guys who were auto students, really into cars, and we'd talk cars after class. I have 3 or 4 bars of babbit metal I bought at an estate auction, and I took one in and challenged the auto tech students to tell me what it was. They didn't know, of course (give them a break, they're only 20 years old), but I told them and explained as much as I knew about how babbit-lined bearings work. It was a good conversation and perhaps their only link to a bygone technology.
I found a video of the Redline guys getting their Model A rods and block babbited: here you go!
