Rod Bearing Availability

[zach44102]

I just bought mine from RCM at 50 shipped.

 

[SHOtimer]

I guess when all the engines fail and we can't get bearings, we all buy Gen 3s, and build the motors up .

...and all get used to driving slow. Parts for those are no better than the Gen I & II's. The Gen 3 guy's are reusing gaskets, because they can't get new ones.

I remember the days when you could get a set for a like $35.

...the good old days. I remember the first time I changed mine (when they were that price). I didn't like the way one set looked, drove down to Napa, they had a couple sets in stock and exchanged them for a set i liked.

I just bought mine from RCM at 50 shipped.

...good luck getting it to your door.

But, in all seriousness, didn't this happen before - all the rod bearings dried up, then they got replenished again?

Doug

 

[SuperchargedSHOguy]

I've got one set stashed.
When that is gone I quit also.

Still have a set here on shelf I have been holding onto for about 6 years god forbid.
IF they dry up, we can mill the crank, run SBC 327 rods and larger pistons for IIRC a 3.5l engine

 

[SuperchargedSHOguy]

I just bought mine from RCM at 50 shipped.

You have to pay attention to the hall of fame/shame. RCM has been mentioned in there routinely in not best way...

 

[firebat45]

RCM is slow and has crappy communication, but usually pulls through. I bought 3 sets of bearings from there about a month ago, no problems. Contemplating buying some more sets now...

If they get discontinued, it's damn near gonna be the end of the V6. At least anyone building up or racing them.

Time for billet cranks with a more commonly available bearing size, I guess.

 

[SHOtimer]

...if the people here got Fel-pro to make HG's for the 3.2, i'm sure we could get Clevite to build more bearings.

Doug

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Sheeesh, wasn't it the same panic 2 or 3 years ago the last time Clevite ran out? They run things like these in batches, I wouldn't worry too much.

Back a number of years ago when DIS modules were unobtanium for several months, I sold a new Ford one for $350 on eBay because of someone panicking that they'd never be able to find one again! I think I paid $58 at the dealer for it.

 

[JRA2000TL]

I looked on Clevite's website but did not see a phone number; only a way to e-mail contact them. I figured maybe one of us could give them a call and inquire about the situation.

I went ahead and contacted them via e-mail. I want answers straight from the horses mouth as to whether these are on temporary backorder or discontinued for good. I also included all our major vendors that would be purchasing these and inquired as to what kind of demand #s do they need for it to be cost efficient to keep prodcuing them in the event they are discontinued. We'll see what happens.

 

[zak]

Would there be interest in rod bearings that would provide a tighter clearance than the 0.002 typically achieved with the Clevites? Botton of the spec is 0.0009 IIRC. These would be more expensive than the Clevites thus I never follow up on them.

A tighter clearance helps the engine maintain oil pressure more readily at high rpm. An analysis of an engine with a similar stroke to the SHOs was made in an article in SportsCar about a decade ago, and the forces that act on the oil in the holes feeding the bearings are quite large. They noted the criticality of maintaining tight bearing to jounral clearnaces on high rpm engines due to this effect (and may explain the SHOs propensity for spinning rod bearings).

If there is interest I'll try them out on my 3.2 build this winter.

 

[AREA 91]

we'll, I guess Im good to go. I have about 6 sets of rod bearings on my shelf.

 

[rubydist]

Just checked... Napa 4 blocks away has bearings for my SHO.

napa has the wrong parts listed in their computer system - the 3.0 vulcan bearings come up as the bearing for the sho, so make sure you get the ones you need.

 

[jayro]

Would there be interest in rod bearings that would provide a tighter clearance than the 0.002 typically achieved with the Clevites? Botton of the spec is 0.0009 IIRC. These would be more expensive than the Clevites thus I never follow up on them.

A tighter clearance helps the engine maintain oil pressure more readily at high rpm. An analysis of an engine with a similar stroke to the SHOs was made in an article in SportsCar about a decade ago, and the forces that act on the oil in the holes feeding the bearings are quite large. They noted the criticality of maintaining tight bearing to jounral clearnaces on high rpm engines due to this effect (and may explain the SHOs propensity for spinning rod bearings).

If there is interest I'll try them out on my 3.2 build this winter.

It would be interesting to find out if this has a basis with our motor. I know our oiling system is designed as a lower pressure/higher volume system. I guess I dont really see our rod bearings as that much of a weak point compared to other engines. I just see it as an items that recieves more stress because our engines were to see high rpms (for a v6 in 1989). With good oils changes my bearings still looked okay at 160K miles of not so nice driving. I wonder if there is another high reving v6 out there for comparison? If you really want to try it out you could always get some oversized bearings and have the machine shop turn the crank to meet the specs you want. Of course you would need to make sure the crank is surface hardened ect. Could be an expensive experiment. Or could the machine shop resize the rods to meet your specs without turning the crank?


Just thinking outloud.

 

[zach44102]

I never order from RCM usually. But when it comes to rod bearings people have not had trouble getting them to the customers. Freddy Burris ordered a set of rod bearings and they got there in 1 week.

 

[operdot]

Mahle Clevite Customer Service phone number: (800) 223 9152

They have 300 on order to be available in late October or early November.

 

[kevinspann]

napa has the wrong parts listed in their computer system - the 3.0 vulcan bearings come up as the bearing for the sho, so make sure you get the ones you need.

He also has a V8 SHO...

 

[kevinspann]

Mahle Clevite Customer Service phone number: (800) 223 9152

They have 300 on order to be available in late October or early November.

PRAISE JESUS ROD BEARING CATASTROPHE HAS BEEN AVOIDED

:thankyou: :thankyou: :thankyou: :thankyou: :thankyou: :thankyou:

 

[zak]

I guess I dont really see our rod bearings as that much of a weak point compared to other engines. I just see it as an items that recieves more stress because our engines were to see high rpms (for a v6 in 1989). With good oils changes my bearings still looked okay at 160K miles of not so nice driving. .

Jermey, the factory assembled SHO motors have rod to jounral clearances much closer to the low end of the spec, thus the initial bearings last awhile. My issue is with the Clevite bearings that are typically Plastigauging out to 0.002 which is at the extreme high end of the spec. You need DOUBLE the volume of oil to keep this high end of the spec floated hydrodynamically, as compared to the low end of the spec. Then think about the higher volume oil pump Ford switched to for the 3.2. Wonder why they did that?

Yes, carefully turning a crank down and matching it to undersized bearings does work and some have even done it on SHO engines. But what I'm talking about are bearings from another manufacturer that would be a bolt in, and should be 0.001 or so.

As I mentioned, the analysis done in Sportcar magazine was with a 3 inch stroke Formula Ford engine, our stroke is 3.15 inch so if anything worse in terms of the centripetal acceleration that the oil undergoes in the crank throws.

Lets see, 300/6 = 50 engines. Guess that will suffice for now.

 

[Lorenr]

Tighter Clearances

If you need tighter or looser clearances you may mix and match standard, oversize and under size bearings as needed. An oversize bearing and a standard bearing should reduce clearance from .002 to .001. however you need to check it.

Do not grind one of these steel crankshafts. The surface hardness is removed and it might wear quite quickly. Cut crankshafts should be re-hardened by a qualified crank manufacturer.

Rod bolts should be re-torqued not more than several times and then replaced. Bolts of this design do not like to be stretched and re-stretched. I believe that ARP makes a rod bolt for a GM V6 3.0 or 3.2 or 3.4 4 cam (can't recall exactly, it could also be a 4 cylinder to, anyway it was something GM raced) that is very similar to an SHO.

 

[Racer X]

Think we're going to be ok.

@HamalT Don't worry we won't make the SHO guys sad...It will be back in stock in November.

 

[zach44102]

Well, thats great news! Now im stuck with a set of rod bearings. Ill use them one day