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Triumph TR6 - Bearings

Hi Folks:

Has anybody out there used "County" brand main bearings and con rod bearings from TRF? I ordered "King" brand bearings along with a fairly large order of rebuild parts and got a shipment indicating that half my order was on backorder and the County bearings were sent in place of the King bearings although the part # on the invoice was the same as the Kings. I'm not trying to publicly badmouth TRF but I was a little disappointed to get the "replacement" bearings. TRF's catalog and websire points out that they use King bearings in all their rebuilds so I figured if they are good enogh for TRF I'll take them. I don't know anything about this County stuff except that the box indicates Made in Israel; not a world-class industrialized nation as far as I know. I could have ordered from any of the other competitors but past experience and this forum indicates a lot of confidence in TRF quality but I really need to know about this County brand stuff. I am inclined to postpone my rebuild, return the bearings at my expense and wait for TRF to ship me King brand parts. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. BTW, after dipping and magnafluxing the block and getting a perfect bill of health, my buddy Steve ('74 TR6) told me I had a hole in the '74 block, just about one inch below a frost plug. It appears he was wrong and it's a flaw or "bubble" in the casting as we could not poke a dental pic through it and filling the block's water jacket with water produced no leaks. Has anybody ever seen casting flaws that look like they could be holes in the block? Thanks for taking the time to review this rather lengthy posting.

Cheers,
Bob
1976 - TR6
Bob Evans


Bob,

I went through the same thing as you with my main and rod bearings. In the end I went with British Parts Northwest. They stock a bearing made by King specifically for the Triumph engines. They are made to the old Vandervelle spec. They call them their Heavy Duty bearings. I think Rick Crawford used them as well. Rick?

As far as I know British Parts Northwest is the only one who carries them.

I sent my original bearings back to TRF.

Henry
HP Henry Patterson


By the way.. King bearings are made in Israel and distributed in the U.S. out of King bearing in New Jersey. I thought County is a UK distributor of various parts for our TR's. What you might have are King bearings distributed through County to TRF.

HP
HP Henry Patterson

Bob these are the bearings I used 2 years ago and I have not had any problems, I spent weeks trying to find the old Vandervell brand and eventually gave up. I have about 2000 miles on my rebuild and regularly use the red line on the tach, Idles with 30psi when hot in Florida, These bearings I would recomend.
Clive P

Thanks For the input Guys. Nice to hear you got good results Clyde. Henry, TRF offer a tri-metal bearing like the Vandervells from King but they are very pricey - about $65.00 US per set. Maybe I will just go ahead and use the County parts.

Cheers,
Bob
1976 - TR6
Bob Evans


Bob,

Check with BP Northwest. When I bought them last year they were about 40.00 US. I think they are worth the extra money.

Henry
HP Henry Patterson


Bob,

BPNW has them for 45.00 for main bearings and 45.00 for rod bearings. They are listed as HD and are described as tri-metal Vandervell type.

http://www.bpnorthwest.com/.sc/ms/sch/ee?search=engine+bearing&go.x=10&go.y=10
HP Henry Patterson

Thanks Henry. Wish I had seen these before. I may order these and return the County stuff for credit.

Bob
1976 - TR6
Bob Evans

Henry and Bob
Yes BPNW sells the Vandervell bearings and are know as the heavy duty set. This is what I used in my engine rebuild. I think it is true that BPNW is the only supplier of these VP2 bearings. Yes they are made in Israel. These are the best bearings money can buy. When I researched these bearings, there was a lot of talk about it not being necessary to have tri metal bearings....too expensive. Thank goodness that there is still someone out there that will sell you the more expensive part for your car as it is the better part for your car.
Rick C
Rick Crawford

Bob, you have email
Cheers
Pete
Pete Russell

I put a set of these in my car a couple years back when I had the pan down to renew my thrust washers "just because." I got them through BP Northwest, and so far I am happy. The Vandervells I took out looked fine after 45K miles, But I figured what the heck.

For high performance street use, a good tri-metal bearing is the way to go. These looked to me to be at least as good as the FM/Clevite CL-77 racers of American engines have used for years. Seems the bearings I put in my truck's engine last year were also made in Israel.

Nate
CF140U
Nate Steiner

Hey ,another Idahian. Rod you got friends
don
DON KELLY

Thanks everybody for the feedback. I will be installing the County brand bearings in this rebuild. Since I will then have the original engine out of the car and the replacement all tucked in I will be ordering the tri-metal bearings for the rebuild of the original '76 engine. I think I will approach that one from a different angle but have not yet decided on modifications. One thing was clear from this forum is that it is not bad form to modify an original engine for better performance. Why wouldn't you want to? I really liked the throttle body fuel injection system that was installed in the original 1.75 Strombergs by a guy named Rick in Maine. He has a web site showing things he has done to a '75 TR6 including TBI and MPI fuel injection systems and supercharging. He also has some great video of his supercharged TR6. Try www.topshamautoparts.com for some interesting stuff. Gas now at $1.22 CDN per liter - ugh!

Cheers,
Bob
1976 - TR6
Bob Evans

To All
Just got this from BPNW.
I have no financial interest in them. This is strictly FYI.
QUOTE:
"For all of you performance hounds out there we have brought some great products for you! The old saying goes, ask for and you shall receive. The first is Tri-Metal Bearings for your car and the Second is new Aluminum Flywheels to unleash your British cars Power!

It is no secret here in the British industry that Vandervell bearings are very hard to come by and are highly sought after. With our hard work and good relationship with King Engine bearings we have put together almost a full line of the VP2 Material Tri-Metal Engine bearings for the British cars. King has produced the exact material makeup for the bearings for us that were used by Vandervell.

You'll need to get our your periodic table from High School Chemistry, here is the break down of the bearing make up, Cu 74.5%,Pb 21%,Sn 4.5% with an overlay of Pb 85%,Sn 12%,Cu 3% on Ni barrier. Below are the links to each make, don't worry all of you 6-Cylinder Healey people, your bearings are in route as the email goes out. "
TR250, TR6 and GT6 Tri-Metal Bearings: http://www.bpnorthwest.com/.sc/ms/cat/TR250-6--Performance%20Parts

PS They are made in Isreal.
They have had the VP2 bearings for a while, they are just promoting them a little stronger.

Rick C

Rick Crawford

Rick- Been out of town?
DON KELLY

Don
How did ya guess...Detroit.
Rick C
Rick Crawford

Sorry
DON KELLY

I thought I would post to this thread since this is about engine bearings.

King Bearings makes 2 levels of bearings.
Bi-metal (alluminium alloy) and tri-metal (composition as in above post). The Tri metal are very similar to the old Vandervell Brand bearings (VP2).

Both BPNW and NOW, TRF sell the tri-metal king bearings. TRF still does not stock and 1-2 weeks delivery. They will supply the .030 undersize bearings. There is no mention as of yet about these bearings on their web site. BPNW only stocks up to .020 undersize. They clearly state VP2 bearings. Be carefull when ordering, both suppliers sell king standard (bi-metal) bearings.

BPNW CB91253/020 $45.96
TRF KBM91253/020TM $64.95 ( as of one hour ago).
Rick C
Rick Crawford

This thread was discussed between 23/04/2006 and 30/05/2006

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