Pilot Bearings

[chris_seven]

We have been looking at the condition of Pliot Bearings we have been removing from a number of flywheels of both early press fit and later bolt-in designs.

The majority of the bearings don't seem to be in very good condition with the needle bearings showing distinct 'flats' which is typical of skidding.

The nose on the end of the transmission also shows some marking.

Some beairngs are OK and over the last 2 years I would say we have replaced about 70% of the bearings we have examined.

We used to have this problem with various Ford engines (Twin Cam, BDA and Pintos that we use up to 8000rpm) and we have always replaced the needle rollers in these engine with 'Oilite' Bronze bushes which we also use on some Coventry Climax based engines that we use to 10 000rpm.

Has anyone tried an Oilte Bush in this application as I am tempted to try this approach.

[HawgRyder]

Chris.
We used something similar to the oilite bushing in the Climax I had in my old TR3.
I twas a bushing used in aircraft at the time (I was in the military and the parts came free).
It was like an Oilite...but it had little round black things embedded it the surface...I think they went all the way through the material.
Teflon or something similar?
In any case...they worked so well in the Climax...we ended up using them all the time in any engine we could find the correct size for.
Bob