[Healeys] crankshaft bearings - what make to look for?

[PG]

Hi Alan,

When I did my rebuild, I asked my parts supplier to source me tri-metal
bearings.....I was told that an apparently little known fact is that County
makes both single as well as tri-metal bearings.....sure enough, my new
bearings came in and were tri-metal and made by County.

I took them down to a performance engine shop and they confirmed that they
were of good quality.

When I dug deeper, I found that County is primarily a marketing company and
outsources much of it's manufacturing to third parties and that they can
supply a wide range of quality depending upon what the purchaser/wholesaler
requests....

Perhaps it is a case of the N.A. wholesalers who are determining the quality
and not County??

Just a thought.

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: healeys-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:healeys-bounces at autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of Alan Seigrist
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 2:19 AM
To: Tadeusz Malkiewicz
Cc: healeys at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Healeys] crankshaft bearings - what make to look for?

Tadek -

Unfortunately, the Isreali company "County" has basically under priced
everyone else out of the AH bearing business, probably in the last 5 years,
and now it is next to impossible to get decent bearings for the Healey 100.
County bearings are single metal tin bearings, and several racers have
complained that they only last maybe two races before needing replacement.
Other daily driver users have complained about these bearings as well.

The best bearings, by far (that were available until only a couple of years
ago) were Vandervell bearings.  They are tri-metal layered bearings and will
easily last the lifetime of your car (if you maintain the engine properly).
If you are lucky, you may be able to find some old stock if you shop around
a bit.

You can also try some of the race shops, like Dennis Welch,
Cape-International or possibly British Car Specialists (in California) and
see if they have any ideas.

Alan

'52 A90
'53 BN1
'64 BJ8


On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 3:42 AM, Tadeusz Malkiewicz
<tadeusz.malkiewicz at plusnet.pl> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I am beginning to look for cam, crankshaft & rod bearings for my 100
engine
> rebuild. I am wondering what brand to look for, what is the best.
>
> All advice is appreciated...
>
> Also, I am wondering is everybody is selling the same gasket kits for the
> engine or there are also different makes and some are a better choice?..
>
> Thanks,
>
>
> Tadek
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