[Fot] Cam Bearings - TR-2 to 4A

[Jack Wheeler]

I worked for a large diesel engine manufacturer and Vandervell was a major bearing supplier to us.  I was working on a new product introduction team and one day the Vandervell rep was in visiting our purchasing manager.  The purchasing manager introduced me to the rep, and during the course of our discussion I shared with him the fact that I was racing a TR-4 at the time.  I had recently experienced problems getting Vandervell cam bearings and asked him about the status of bearing supply for the TR engine.  He said he would look into it.
A few weeks later, our purchasing manager walked into my office with a big box and said, "this is for you".  He told me that the Vandervell rep had gone back to the UK and had one of his materials managers gather all of the TR-2/4 cam bearings from all of their major warehouses in the UK, and sent them to me.  There were over 100 bearings.  Since they were all the wide bearings, I had about a third of them cut down to the width of the narrow bearing.  To make sure the oil holes lined up with the holes in the block, the machine shop had to cut an equal amount off each side of the bearing to get the appropriate width.

Where is all this going?  Well, I changed the cam bearings (because I had them) every time I rebuilt an engine, which was about every 4 races.  For whatever reason, I kept a number of the used bearings with 4 race weekends on them (or less).  I have a total of 17 wide bearings, plus one new wide AE bearing, and 9 narrow bearings, or about 9 sets.  I don't know if anyone is interested in running used bearings in your race engines, but if you are, I am offering them to anyone on the list for the price of the shipping cost.  The wear in these bearings is visible (see pictures), but barely perceptible when you run your finger over the areas of wear.  About what you would expect after 3 or 4 pace weekends.

What is the benefit of Vandervell cam bearings?  The AE or all the other bearings that are on the market today (to my knowledge) have a straight split in the bearing, which can result in the ends of the bearing becoming misaligned.  The Vandervell bearing has a design that looks like a jigsaw puzzle piece, where the ends of the bearing are clenched together, preventing misalignment.  In the third picture attached I tried to get a good shot of this feature.
If anyone is interested in one or more sets of these bearings, let me know how many you want.  Thanks.
Jack
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