White metal mains

Aug 12, 2004 3 Replies
J

Regarding restoring white-metal sleeve mains, has anyone tried this?



The mains in the Coventry Climax engine of my 1926 Clyno car are thick white-metal sleeves pressed into cast-iron end plates - (2 mains). Journals were OK, mains just a bit loose. I pressed the sleeves out and "dumped" them using a specially turned dolly and a calibrated sledge hammer, then hand-scraped them to fit the shaft and added a steel shim to take up the increased end-play.



Worked for me. Probably did wonders for the crystalline structure.



Jack Watson


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A

Jack,

is my understanding of your solution, (remove the mains, and wallop them on the end to make them shorter and fatter) correct? If so, the OD would have been oversize as well.

Its not an approach that I had thought of, but I can imagine folks doing it when spares weren't available.

Regards, Arthur G

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J

Yep.

Jack

Arthur G wrote:

the end to make them shorter and fatter)

when spares weren't available.

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A

Gosh Jack, how brave. If the engine can't tolerate the sloppiness of the bearings, I suppose I could give it a try on the basis of having nothing to lose.

Thanks and Regards, Arthur G

the end to make them shorter and fatter)

when spares weren't available.

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