Anyone use "King brand" connecting rod bearings on their 1.6 SC motors versus OEM factory replacements without any issues ?

 

Lohen seem to sell them as an upgrade, quite a reputable website but no experience of the myself.

Any reason your replacing?

 

Spun a rod bearing on a brand new rebuilt motor with less than 700 miles and have never done this without removing the crank and having the crank turned. Magic Motoring did the motor and I suspect they did not Plastigage or check the machine work.

 

Problem is if there in now crank of carrier damage, could cause more issues. I'm not familiar with shells etc but can you contact the company and see what they say, surely there's some sort of warranty?

 

Yeah, the only way is drop the pan and inspect the rod bearing and do a shade tree mechanic repair or completely remove the motor and rebuild again.

 

Have you talked to the shop that built your engine?

If they are reputable, they would probably want to look at it themselves to find out why it failed. I would expect they would be horrified at such an early failure and want to make it right.

 

I did indeed but, they said that since it was a high performance build they would not guarantee their work. I suspect that the machine shop that did the work for them prior to assembly did not mic or plastigage the rods or mains.Appreciate your concern .

 

I can understand a high performance build not having a warranty. But for shop that builds high performance engines not to verify the machine work meets their specifications prior to final assembly and/or providing an engine build sheet documenting the build is disappointing to me.

So what happened? They took the short block from the machine shop and bolted the head, oil pan and accessories on and called it good? Or they assembled the short block themselves without measuring anything? Or they measured everything and made a mistake during assembly?

Short of a freak parts failure, there’s no scenario that makes the work from Magic Motoring look good here.

To your original question, I will be using King rod bearings when I build my engine. I will also check the work of my machine shop prior to final assembly and fill out an engine build sheet as I go to document everything for no reason other than I feel that is what a proper build entails.

 

[QUOTE=ghostwrench;4617815]I can understand a high performance build not having a warranty. But for shop that builds high performance engines not to verify the machine work meets their specifications prior to final assembly and/or providing an engine build sheet documenting the build is disappointing to me.

So what happened? They took the short block from the machine shop and bolted the head, oil pan and accessories on and called it good? Or they assembled the short block themselves without measuring anything? Or they measured everything and made a mistake during assembly?

Short of a freak parts failure, there’s no scenario that makes the work from Magic Motoring look good here.

To your original question, I will be using King rod bearings when I build my engine. I will also check the work of my machine shop prior to final assembly and fill out an engine build sheet as I go to document everything for no reason other than I feel that is what a proper build entails. /I suspect they just assembled everything without at least plastigage first , like I’ve done for years. After receiving the JCW cylinder head; 3-angle valve job , ported & polished by Valley Head Service ; I assembled everything back together onto the block. My mistake was not to double-check their work.

 

Well now I think I have a better understanding of what transpired here: Magic Motoring delivered a short block to you that they assembled after the machine shop did its work. You installed the cylinder head after port/polishing/valve job by Valley Head Service and 700 miles later a rod bearing spun.

Reminds me of a repair I did early last year: A 2.7L Ecoboost F150 came to me with an usual noise about a month after another tech in the shop (who was out with Covid) replaced the cylinder heads for smoke on cold start. I heard bottom end noise and disassembled the engine to find the rod bearings on cylinder 6 were damaged/crushed - not spun but extreme wear that none of the other bearings showed. I found an aluminum shaving stuck in the oil feed hole from the crankshaft to the rod bearing. Closer inspection of the cylinder head (brand new head from Ford) found 2 other shavings still in the oil passages of the cylinder head. I surmised the head was not properly cleaned after machining and that shaving ended up starving connecting rod bearing at cylinder 6 of oil resulting in the damage. I was shocked that could happen in a manufacturer's plant. I replaced the short block and as far as I know, that was the end of that.

Perhaps there was some material left over from the machine work (head or block) that ended up oil starving one or more of the rod bearings resulting in the failure? I think when you disassemble and examine the failure, it will become more clear whether the failure is due to excessive rod/main bearing clearances or something else.

I'm really curious to know what happened.

 

So the"new" hydraulic chain tensioner failed and slacked the timing chain , which in turn broke one of the plastic chain tensioners . The noise emanated from the middle of the motor leading me to believe it was a rod bearing .