I've had an extra set of cam bearings kicking around for a while that I was going to put into my block, but after I've checked them out, I don't think they're what I want. They're Dura-bond CHP-8, chill-cast micro babbitt. Am I correct in assuming they're too hard and the babbitt layer will be too thin to have decent embeddability for street use?

I won't feel too bad if I don't use them, since I don't even remember where they came from. I'm certain I didn't buy them at least.

 

No help? Sorry. I've usually had the machine shop pull/boil out bearings and pull new ones in. I've only had one set screwed up that way (pulled in crooked).

The plain old F/M bearings have worked out well for me. Lacking any information on them, I'd be hesitant.

 

Yeah, I'm leaning towards not using them and just going with plain old boring stock type bearings. Oh well, back to the dusty shelf in the garage from whence they came, until I rediscover them again in a few years.

 

i read this few days ago and have no clue. i do my own bearings but use run of the mill FM bearings for just about everything, and C&A for the other.

 

Considering the amount of shrapnel embedded in the old cam bearings after the oil pump pickup broke, the cam journals were pretty much unscathed when I pulled it apart (unlike the lobes :P ). This leads me to believe there's nothing wrong with plain old stock cam bearings.

 

I have never, in all my days of looking at wasted cam bearings, seen a failed cam bearing. I've seen plenty of cam bearings that have been killed by oil starvation, contamination, forces greatly in excess of their design (improperly installed gear drives for example), and so on; I have yet to see one that just failed, or even wore out.

I think that as long as you keep the oil clean and the filter out of "bypass" (like, don't use 50 weight oil in sub-zero weather), they'd be fine.

 

they're recommended for roller cam applications with very high spring pressures, so I agree I wouldn't use them for a street motor