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B-Engine Half/Groove - King Engine Bearings #2773024
05/09/20 11:12 PM
05/09/20 11:12 PM
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Pacific NW USA
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Quick shout out to King Engine Bearings...

I was searching high-and-low to find a set of half-groove factory-style main bearings for my 383 Road Runner restoration build and coming up short. Turns out, King makes them in their HP bearing series. Part number #MB 555HP is for the standard size. Super happy with these...

[Linked Image]
[Linked Image]
[Linked Image]

Re: B-Engine Half/Groove - King Engine Bearings [Re: CompSyn] #2773038
05/10/20 12:39 AM
05/10/20 12:39 AM
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As far as I know nobody has ever tooled up a 3/4 groove bearing for the low deck. Lack of bearing choices is one of the bigger draw backs to building the low deck engines. Chevy race engines are so much easier to build since you can find split bearings and 0.001 over and unders and all the stuff you need to really tweak a shortblock into just the right spot. Mopar stuff ends up being "well that is as good as we can get it".

Re: B-Engine Half/Groove - King Engine Bearings [Re: CompSyn] #2773054
05/10/20 01:16 AM
05/10/20 01:16 AM
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That's cool.

So, it is a pretty exact restoration build, down to the bearing type?

What about the original connecting rod bearings with the squirter "notch", will you duplicate those as well?

I think a person may need to make the notch themselves, if desired.

I always thought that was an interesting detail they added, and the aftermarket totally ignored/thought unnecessary. TBH I kind of agree with the aftermarket and have no issue modifying...but original is original.


Rich H.

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Re: B-Engine Half/Groove - King Engine Bearings [Re: ZIPPY] #2773061
05/10/20 03:22 AM
05/10/20 03:22 AM
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Originally Posted by ZIPPY
That's cool.

So, it is a pretty exact restoration build, down to the bearing type?

What about the original connecting rod bearings with the squirter "notch", will you duplicate those as well?

I think a person may need to make the notch themselves, if desired.

I always thought that was an interesting detail they added, and the aftermarket totally ignored/thought unnecessary. TBH I kind of agree with the aftermarket and have no issue modifying...but original is original.


Well sort of... For starters, I wanted to retain the stock 402 oil pan which in my view meant using a stock volume oil pump which lead to focusing on proper oil control and thus the use of half-groove mains. Actually, I had collected a set of NOS main bearings which would probably work just fine but with years of shelf wear and the discovery of the King bearings, I decided to try the new shelf stuff.

I did not know about the squirter notch in the rod bearings. My 69 383 Road Runner engine with standard bore, and standard/standard crank was found to have Clevite 77 rod bearings. I hadn't paid much attencine before on other engines but was wondering if Clevite was a supplier for Chrysler in the day? I'll have to look for the notches. Who knows? I guess someone could have replaced them at some point?

Oh! Here's a blast from the past... A set of standard low-deck main bearings...

[Linked Image]

Re: B-Engine Half/Groove - King Engine Bearings [Re: CompSyn] #2773116
05/10/20 10:21 AM
05/10/20 10:21 AM
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On the pile of old stuff I have torn down that bearings had a plausible date code as being OE, they all had a stylized "FM" logo on the backside.

Just a guess, I always assumed the OE supplier was Federal Mogul, but might be off base on that.

Take the cap off a stock rod, and you'll see mating surface has a groove machined into it. Originally the rod bearing had a notch that matched up to that groove, the idea oil would squirt out in semi-controlled fashion.

Just my humble opinion the biggest benefit of the squirter notch might have been for long periods of hot idling
(Like a police car/speed trap for hours on end) to attempt to shoot oil at the cam, lifters, wrist pins, and so on.
As rpm goes up, I believe the more rod side clearance is more than enough to do the same job.

I could be wrong on all this but in the past spent alot of time wondering why things might have been done
as they were. Somebody in the past thought it was a good enough idea.

It was just an interesting little detail they used to have.

Those NOS bearings are cool. I would want to use them, but maybe they would look better on a shelf somewhere.



Rich H.

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Re: B-Engine Half/Groove - King Engine Bearings [Re: ZIPPY] #2773145
05/10/20 11:48 AM
05/10/20 11:48 AM
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Originally Posted by ZIPPY
On the pile of old stuff I have torn down that bearings had a plausible date code as being OE, they all had a stylized "FM" logo on the backside.

Just a guess, I always assumed the OE supplier was Federal Mogul, but might be off base on that.

Take the cap off a stock rod, and you'll see mating surface has a groove machined into it. Originally the rod bearing had a notch that matched up to that groove, the idea oil would squirt out in semi-controlled fashion.

Just my humble opinion the biggest benefit of the squirter notch might have been for long periods of hot idling
(Like a police car/speed trap for hours on end) to attempt to shoot oil at the cam, lifters, wrist pins, and so on.
As rpm goes up, I believe the more rod side clearance is more than enough to do the same job.

I could be wrong on all this but in the past spent alot of time wondering why things might have been done
as they were. Somebody in the past thought it was a good enough idea.

It was just an interesting little detail they used to have.

Those NOS bearings are cool. I would want to use them, but maybe they would look better on a shelf somewhere.



Cool info Zippy. I closer inspection of the connecting rods confirms “Clevite 77” and the matched bearings have the oiling notch you speak of. I’ll see about getting some pics later...

Re: B-Engine Half/Groove - King Engine Bearings [Re: ZIPPY] #2773151
05/10/20 11:58 AM
05/10/20 11:58 AM
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I had a whole drawer full of original engine bearings still in the Mopar boxes but I think I threw them all out when I was doing some cleanup. I tried to sell them but nobody was interested. I think they were useless as bearings anymore but I thought they would look cool sitting on the shelf in someone shop or maybe in a display case of an old speed shop or something.

Re: B-Engine Half/Groove - King Engine Bearings [Re: AndyF] #2773160
05/10/20 12:13 PM
05/10/20 12:13 PM
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i'm kind of curious why those bearings could be termed "useless", other than someone not wanting them.
i'm guessing you meant no one wanting them was the cause ? if a person had use, they could still be used, correct ?
beer

Re: B-Engine Half/Groove - King Engine Bearings [Re: ZIPPY] #2773227
05/10/20 03:40 PM
05/10/20 03:40 PM
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Below, three(3) rod bearing trivia pics...

The OEM rod bearing for this St. Louis built 1969 383 Road Runner appears to be Clevite 77...

[Linked Image]

Bearing complete with original squirter notch...

[Linked Image]

Bearing with notch installed in rod cap..

[Linked Image]




Re: B-Engine Half/Groove - King Engine Bearings [Re: CompSyn] #2773260
05/10/20 05:36 PM
05/10/20 05:36 PM
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Posts: 17,844
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Cool there it is.

Can someone decode T 11 1 and use whatever methodology to resolve it to '68 or '69?

Though I am not a "resto person" I would be interested in how they do it.

If anyone asked me I would say it's probably from either March (11th week) or November (11th month) of '61 or '71, but I probably have it wrong as I can't make sense out of the "T".

T would normally be the 18th character used in production sequence, with "I" and "0" skipped in production
so as to not confuse them with "1" and "zero". If it means 18th week, then that would be May, but that still doesn't tell us for sure what year.

Clearly I'm grasping at straws and am not getting anywhere LOL.

There must be an expert around these here parts who knows all about those date codes.



Rich H.

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Re: B-Engine Half/Groove - King Engine Bearings [Re: CompSyn] #2773320
05/10/20 08:26 PM
05/10/20 08:26 PM
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541 slobovia
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OK so I had to look up the notch thing

bearingnotch.JPG






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