-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Solow <gregmogdoc@surfnetusa.com>
To: triumphs@autox.team.net <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Date: Thursday, February 04, 1999 5:57 AM
Subject: Engine Bearings
All of the original bearings that cam in Triumph cars from the late 50s
onward were made by Vandervell. In some cases these bearings were lined
with "babbit" material. The main bearings in all TR-2 through TR-4 models
were Babbit. This material has very good embeddebility, is quite soft and
tolerant of minor misalignment. It is not capable of carrying very high
loads.
The rod bearings that came in all TR-2 through TR-6s were lined with
Vandervell"s famous VP-2 material. This is a tri -metal lining consisting
of sintered copper on a steel shell with a lead- indium alloy layer on top
of that and finally a tin plated layer on top. These bearings have good
imbeddebility, very high load carrying capacity, and are somewhat tolerant
of misalignment and momentary losses of oil pressure. These are great
bearings! They are rated for carrying loads of up to 10,500 psi.
Glacier bearings are two layer bearings that consist of an aluminum
bearing alloy on top of a steel back. If all conditions are perfect they
work very well. They do NOT have good embeddebility, are quite hard and are
very unforgiving. If anything goes wrong with the oiling system, or there
is any misalignment, they will instantly fail and wipe out the crank
journal. Their load carrying capacity is about 6,500 psi.
Clevite makes a trimetal bearing that is cast copper-lead and can
withstand loads of 12,000 psi.
When AP Engineering who owned Glacier bought Vandervell around 10 of 12
years ago, they started discontinuing the VP-2 bearing wherever they had a
Glacier substitute. They did this because the Glacier bearings ( the
aluminum type) are much cheaper to produce.
They only continued production of the VP-2 bearings when they were producing
them for a car manufacturer as an original equipment supplier and the car
manufacturer insisted on the VP-2 material. The Vandervell Bearings are
defintely far superior to the Glaciers. I will only use Glacier as a last
resort when I have no other choice. I recently asked Vandervell if they
would produce a run of bearings for me on a special order basis. They said
that they would, but required a minimum order of 400 sets of bearing at an
appoximate cost of $30.00 per set. And all of the bearings had to be the
same size! I checked with Moss Motors and The Roadster Factory and neither
of them were interested in going in with me on the order. I looked around
furthur and was able to get some trimetal rod bearings in .010 undersize
only to fit TR-2 through TR-4s. They are made by ACL and are rated at
8,500psi.
They are not as good as Vandervell bearings but are better than Glaciers.
When I spoke to the "powers that be at Moss, Their reaction to me was
that they could sell all the Glaciers they could get their hands on and
that there was no demand for the better quality bearings. The only way we
are going to get good quality parts out of these companies is constantly
badger them and to spead the word through groups like this when the parts
are not up to snuff.
Regards,
Greg Solow
The Engine Room
Santa Cruz, Ca. T
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