c20let engine bearings

[jonn]

can anyone recommend me some good main and big end bearings for a let that will be around 300bhp.

i read that Glyco are good but are the acl race bearings worth the extra money?

[mowgli]

genuine. trw. AE.

basically for 300hp, std bearings should be ok.

have you had the crank measured to see if it needs regrinding? cos the engineer will usually supply bearings himself.

i'm not actually sure that 'acl' or similar performance bearings are any better than genuine, cos put in simple terms, the bearing material can't be any softer than original equipment or it wouldn't last very long, or if it was any harder, it would wear the crank out quicker....and if it was any slippier, the oil would get out too quick & not lubricate it

i await someone from mig telling me off..... lol

[swedge]

ve got diesel bearings for my xe build, miles form 300bhp though but my engine builder says they are alot more heavy duty due to being for a diesel

they are the same size as xe bearing but are labeled for a 1.7td

[jonn]

i got the crank checked and he said that it is standard and very good just going to give it a polish. he said that he could get me some sort of race bearings for it but would cost about €150 but will take 10 days to order them.

just want to check what other sort of bearings are good and find out some prices.

[swedge]

well my bearings were ACL duraglide and where about £60 for both sets

he said its the same as what sbd sell but thiers arent labelled as 1.7td

[jonn]

thanks swedge found them on ebay, i think i will give them ago just going to do a small bit more research!

[swedge]

np's my engine builder recommended them and he has built a fair few performance engines

[mowgli]

the 17td is crap. it has 67 hp, no decent torque at all, and revs to about 4500..... it is identical in size to the LET bearings, but is a different part no. in the trw book....
the C20LET had 204hp 206lbft from 2400rpm (taken from a spec list i found) in std form and revs to, what, 6500 comfortably??

i know people put diesel bits into lots of performance petrol engine applications.... ie. the 1.9d crank in the 205 gti... thats how the tuners originally made the 1.9, seriously......

but i'm yet to be convinced about the diesel shells, all their strength is based on low end torque, which, when put on a turbo engine seems a bit odd to me... as they are more about revving to get their power.

[Stuart]

IMHO shells are only under 'load' at cold start anyway, once oil pressure is up the crank and big ends 'float' in the oil film and should never touch the bearings.... Just my 2pence.

[mowgli]

sounds fair to me, i wondered if the diesel engine had a harder or stronger thrust main to help counteract the heavier clutch. but i don't have the info for that

[Stuart]

The combustion event of a derv is rather viscious, so you could envisage some movement of the film to let contact occur.
But then this could be counteracted with a higher pressure film or a wider bearing to contain the film.

I could be talking poo though lol

[mowgli]

as usual, i think this use of diesel bearings is some throwback to a ford escort based tuning event, where the original component was made of toffee & the best fix was to use off the shelf bearings from a diesel engine cos they were a lot stronger, based on fords 60's,70's & 80's policy of making every component only just good enough to do the job in std from....don't knock it, it used to make them loads of money..

[Plug]

I put standard ones in mine running under 300bhp but had a hard life

No problems at all It's phase 2 ATM btw

[mowgli]

the std ones will have a design life of maybe 200k miles... so they should do

[jonn]

have them ordered now, here is a diagram of what they are made from
http://www.wilmink-performance.com/media/catalog/product/cache/2/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/l/a/layers_29.jpg