What Are my Bearings telling me

[FJP42]

Hi. I am a member of another forum and it was recommended I come see you all over here with this question.

I have a 67 E type 4.2 Jaguar that was rebuilt by a Previous owner and a shop in Nor Cal about 10 years and approx 2K miles ago.

I tore down the engine to work on some oil leaks and when removing the crank I noticed the bearings seem to look different.

The crank was ground to .010 under on mains and rods.

I Mic’d the journals and all seem to be same dimensions as I measured three places on each journal and at 2.740 which is spec for 10 under.

When all rods were removed the crank spun freely with just a little drag on it.

Are these bearings Telling me all is Good or is there an issue to address?

1FD7EEC6-86CA-494E-912A-E77CB27F72BA.jpeg

Thanks

[rustbucket79]

Looks to me the bearing face layer is coming off. It would be a good idea to torque and dial the mainline.

[miniv8]

Might want to check the chamfer of the oil passages on the surface of main saddles and caps, and on the bearing as well.
There might be some protrusion there that creates those pressure marks.

Other than that, Id say it's just fine.

[FJP42]

Could you explain dial the main? Is this looking for a bent crank or a block needing line honing?

I was wondering about the oil passages in the journals protruding. Is this something that could be done with a hand file or a small dremel stone or does this need to go to the shop?

[Monzsta]

I'm not alarmed by what I see there. Can you give us a pic of the back of the bearings, particularly the stamping?

I'll be honest here. This looks like some china bearings that have been painted. The coating is clearly not metallic and the action of the fluid film is causing it to flake and granulate as it gets under and hydraulics the coating off.

I'd scuff the bearings lightly with your favorite scotchbrite or very fine sand paper and get to the base metal, then get out the plastigauge and see how your clearances are.

Or get a set of name brand bearings that are trustworthy.

[rustbucket79]

Could you explain dial the main? Is this looking for a bent crank or a block needing line honing?

I was wondering about the oil passages in the journals protruding. Is this something that could be done with a hand file or a small dremel stone or does this need to go to the shop?

Looking for issues in the main bearing saddles. If the saddles are not in alignment, round, and on size, it shows up as bearing wear.

From what I see the oil holes are chamfered, but the journals show some scratches. Is the crank standard or undersized?

[FJP42]

I'm not alarmed by what I see there. Can you give us a pic of the back of the bearings, particularly the stamping?

I'll be honest here. This looks like some china bearings that have been painted. The coating is clearly not metallic and the action of the fluid film is causing it to flake and granulate as it gets under and hydraulics the coating off.

I'd scuff the bearings lightly with your favorite scotchbrite or very fine sand paper and get to the base metal, then get out the plastigauge and see how your clearances are.

Or get a set of name brand bearings that are trustworthy.

Here is a picture of the back.

Not trying to start a which is better debate but can you name a few good brands? Last time I was in an engine Clevite77 was the go to. I suspect a lot has changed in 20 years.

[FJP42]

Could you explain dial the main? Is this looking for a bent crank or a block needing line honing?

I was wondering about the oil passages in the journals protruding. Is this something that could be done with a hand file or a small dremel stone or does this need to go to the shop?

Looking for issues in the main bearing saddles. If the saddles are not in alignment, round, and on size, it shows up as bearing wear.

From what I see the oil holes are chamfered, but the journals show some scratches. Is the crank standard or undersized?

It is undersized .010 on both main and rod.

can I torque caps and use an inside mic to check or do I need another tool?

[rustbucket79]

A dial bore gauge is a more accurate tool to use.

[rustbucket79]

Those are Vandervell bearings, nothing wrong with that brand. You might find your options are limited by the brand and age of the engine. Can you post a good picture of the cap mating surfaces and the cleaned block bearing saddles?

[FJP42]

Those are Vandervell bearings, nothing wrong with that brand. You might find your options are limited by the brand and age of the engine. Can you post a good picture of the cap mating surfaces and the cleaned block bearing saddles?

As requested.

I should note that most all these look the same. I just used these two for reference.

Thanks for your help!

[modok]

I cannot really tell from the pictures if the flaked off areas are .001-.002" low, or just visibly different.

If it is actually the main bearing overlay coming off.... that can be a failure mode due to fatigue,
or it could also be caused by chemical attack, from excessive water (acid) in the oil.

Or it could be a bad batch of bearings.

[rustbucket79]

Those bearing failure charts are pretty ambiguous.

Mating surfaces on the caps look factory, and the housings don’t appear to show perfect bearing contact. I would recommend torquing on the caps and getting your local machine shop to dial bore gauge the mainline. My hopes would be that it’s currently small or on the small size of specification, whereas the shop could take a couple of swipes with the mandrel and bring it to top size, and more importantly round.

[FJP42]

Those bearing failure charts are pretty ambiguous.

Mating surfaces on the caps look factory, and the housings don’t appear to show perfect bearing contact. I would recommend torquing on the caps and getting your local machine shop to dial bore gauge the mainline. My hopes would be that it’s currently small or on the small size of specification, whereas the shop could take a couple of swipes with the mandrel and bring it to top size, and more importantly round.

Thank you.

Does the bearing manufacture specify the max diameter? In other Would I need to know what bearing I will be using to make this work? I ask because the usual parts suppliers for this car don’t specify what brand bearing they sell.

I will follow up on this with a machine shop... as soon as I find one of them around here. Notice your profile says machinist. Are you by chance in SoCal?

[rebelrouser]

I am not a machinist, I am a technician that assembles engines. A good machinist can easily take care of the measurements needed to get your engine rebuilt in good order. I see no major issues with the engine from the photos you posted.
I will tell you how I decide what I tell my customers and how I decide what I want my machinist to do for me for machine work on a rebuild.
First I use a round straight edge and lay it in the bores of the mains, if I can get .0015 feeler gauge under the straight edge it gets line bored. Or if for some reason it passes the straight edge test, I look for wear on one side of the bearings indicating a load where it should not be, your bearings look like many engines that I have rebuilt and never had any problems with.
Second I install the front and rear and rear bearings torque them down, with the crank in place, put a dial indicator on the middle main, rotate the crank and any runout over .001 it gets a new or reground crankshaft. I seldom see a bent crank unless the engine has sustained damage, or been severely overheated. I have seen spun rods for example get a crank hot enough to warp many times.
The other thing which is hard to describe is simple rotating the engine over as you take it apart, tells a big part of the story. I can usually feel something is wrong by rotating as I take it apart. When a rod is taken out any large decrease in turning effort, is a sign to look harder. Same way when assembling after each cap main and rod is torqued, simply rotating and felling how it rotates tells you if everything is good or bad. If you want to get more scientific, use a torque wrench and record the change in rotational torque.
These methods are the reason I HATE to assemble a pile of parts, because I never had the chance to take it apart, and many times those pile of parts were never assembled together, so the issues show up as you put it together sometimes, wasting time and money.