old rod bearings


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By darrell - 4 Years Ago
putting together a 292 for a fellow who got bearings.020 from carpenter vandervell which must have sat for 50 years.the coating on these is almost gone on some.i dont know if its there just to cover till use or its more serious.cant put on a picture.
By darrell - 4 Years Ago
ive had someone take a look and i guess their junk.never saw that before.looks like the babbit is part gone.
By Cliff - 4 Years Ago
Try rubbing it with a little scotch brite
By Ted - 4 Years Ago
Vandervell was a good brand of bearing in its day and were made in England.  As Cliff mentions, lightly dress the bearings with some oiled Scotch Brite and see what the bearings actually look like.  An emphasis here on the word ‘lightly’.  Depending upon how the bearings have been stored, the overlay can oxidize and make the bearing surface simply look bad.
By darrell - 4 Years Ago
these bearings are different than the babbit bearings we are used to.the surface coating is hard and shiny.most of it has discinagrated.steel wool wont leave a scratch on this whatever it is.its real thin cant be much more than .001 thick.i dont know whats under it.anyway i ordered another set.wish i could post a picture but dont have the means.
By Ted - 4 Years Ago
If you’ll send a picture to my email, I’ll post it.  I’m curious now as to what that bearing actually looks like.  My email address is located at   www.eatonbalancing.com   under ‘Contact Us’.
By darrell - 4 Years Ago
sent ted at least i hope i did.
By Ted - 4 Years Ago
http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/uploads/images/8d5a22e9-0137-4849-bec6-09ee.jpg 
A bit blurry on the picture.  You might see if your camera has a Macro setting for close up pictures.
By darrell - 4 Years Ago
the shiny part is the coating.thats gone some still have most of it.whatever it is its hard metal coating.the picture is is good as it gets
By Cliff - 4 Years Ago
I would think with a lite clean up they will be fine (scotch brite), 
By 2721955meteor - 4 Years Ago
NOT WORTH THE RISC,  SET OF ROD BEARING NOTHING COMPARED TO A FILURE.  IF THEY WHER MADE IN ENGLAND I WOULD REPLACE THEM.
By 55blacktie - 4 Years Ago
I'm aware of the reputation of English cars; however, I wouldn't necessarily conclude that the bearings are defective because they were made in England. 

Before the massive influx of Japanese imports, my grandfather owned Hillmans and Sunbeams. He bought them used (probably cheap) because of the superior gas mileage. He never spun a bearing, threw a rod, or blew an engine. Eventually, he replaced them with a Toyota Corona and a Datsun pickup. 
By darrell - 4 Years Ago
the company i believe is still in business.must be close to 100 years old.i have found these bearings dont do well sitting for a long time.ive had old ones before with spots on them but nothing like this.ive never heard anyone say they werent good bearings.
By slumlord444 - 4 Years Ago
I would clean them up as suggested and try them with plastigauge if they cleaned up ok.
By darrell - 4 Years Ago
ive already ordered a set im doing this engine for a fellow whos working on my 55 fairlane put in headliner and back and front windows stuff i stay away from.im not going to chance these bearings on his engine.i my use them on my own engine someday.he works on other peoples cars and now is trying to get the engine started in a 55 convertable that sat for 30 years.this fellow tells him its not bad underneath except the rad support is is bad.we had a great laugh over that.crossmember
By Ted - 4 Years Ago
2721955meteor (6/2/2021)
....IF THEY WHER MADE IN ENGLAND I WOULD REPLACE THEM.

In its heyday, the Vandervell bearings were superior to almost everything out there.  The floating thrust on their main bearings was ahead of its time and another great feature.  It’s been many years now since Vandervell was bought out by one of the big name bearing companies simply for their advanced technology.
 
In the Seventies/Eighties, Vandervell was the best bearing for holding up to the nitro burning engines versus the others including the Clevite bearings that would simply mushroom or flatten on the loading side in their bores.  I ran the Vandervell bearings successfully in my FE powered drag cars for many years with zero issues related to the bearings themselves.


darrell (6/3/2021)
I've already ordered a set im doing this engine for a fellow whos working on my 55 fairlane put in headliner and back and front windows stuff I stay away from.  I'm not going to chance these bearings on his engine.  I may use them on my own engine someday.  He works on other peoples cars and now is trying to get the engine started in a 55 convertable that sat for 30 years.  This fellow tells him its not bad underneath except the rad support is is bad.  We had a great laugh over that crossmember.

Without more information, replacing the bearings is a good call.  There are certain risks out there that you can take when doing it for yourself, but when doing it for a customer, then those risks are best minimized by purchasing what looks like better and/or new parts.  Problems arise when certain replacement parts become unavailable with time.  I use a large number of ‘old’ NOS bearings for vintage engine rebuilds simply due to the unavailability of many of those bearings.  But due diligence must be taken to insure that those older NOS bearings have not deteriorated from sitting in what I’ll call poor storage conditions.