[Healeys] rebuilds (was County)

[joe mulqueen]

I was thinking the same thing.  Thrust washers don't
see *that* much pressure.  They would've had to be
extremely soft in order to distentegrate so quickly. 
Even down to copper they should not fall out.  Now on
a different point, I've received surprisingly poor
quality from very reputable machine shops.  Often, the
owner/expert/god lets a helper do the job...
Sincerely,
JoeM
'60 BT7 project
'56 MGA driver


Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2007 12:42:38 -0600
From: "david porter" <frogeye at swcp.com>
Subject: Re: [Healeys] [Fwd: County]
To: "'Bob Spidell'" <bspidell at comcast.net>,
"'healeylist'"
	<healeys at autox.team.net>
Message-ID:
<200709031842.l83IggcN004990 at ame8.swcp.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1250"

I gotta chime in on this one. I've re-built hundreds
of bottom ends and
 have
been using the County bearings for many of them (being
a loyal Moss
 Dist.)
Bearings simply do not slide apart. That requires
friction and
 resultant
heat. I suspect that on the 3rd go around your friend
finally did (or
re-did) the machine shop work that the bottom end
required in the first
place.
 Dave 

-----Original Message-----
From: healeys-bounces+frogeye=swcp.com at autox.team.net
[mailto:healeys-bounces+frogeye=swcp.com at autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of
 Bob
Spidell
Sent: Monday, September 03, 2007 10:52 AM
To: healeylist
Subject: [Healeys] [Fwd: County]

Another actual, substantive data point about County
parts:

Hi Bob,


          I rebuilt a spare engine for a friend of
mine after his 
original engine came apart twice. The first rebuild,
by a race shop, 
came apart after 200 miles when two County rod
bearings came apart. The
 
bearing material slid off of the steel shell. They
rebuilt it again
 with 
two new rods and a different crank. 1800 miles later
my friend showed
 up 
at mine door with a bad oil leak at the real seal kit.
Thinking the
 seal 
had failed we pulled the gearbox to get at the seal
and found the 
crankshaft moving back and forth 3/8 of an inch. We
pulled the pan and 
found the County thrust washers in the oil pan. They
turned out to be 
very soft and wore quickly. The rear seal kit had been
destroyed by the
 
movement of the crank as were the crank and the main
webs from rubbing.
 
When we rebuilt the spare engine we used all
Vanderville bearings, AE 
pistons, and Payne gaskets and the engine has 15k
miles on it now with 
no issues. I think the County problem is a quality
issue and the
 sources 
they use to make parts. Some might be fine and others
are crap. I might
 
use a County water pump in a pinch but, not County
bearings made in
 Israel.


                                      Wayne