roni4g63

iTrader: (1)

Hey boys (and girls?) I have always been curious about this. I know a LOT of great builders, including David Buscher, Tom from Tscomptuned, MAPerformance etc use acl's with great results, I am just very curious as to why not many people use the king bearings,

from my personal experience, the tri metal xp series bearings that king offers, with only one set I was able to get 0.0022" on the mains and 0.0026" on the rods, this is using mitutoyo mics and 0.0001" accuracy fowler dial bore gauge!

mind you this is a brand new crank with near PERFECT journal diameters, but still, thats pretty dead on consistent given I only used one set to get these clearences.

now I know that "they work, thats why everybody uses them", but I want to know if people on here have had a good/bad experience with king bearings, I know some major honda engine builders swear by these bearings, they are also very big in the subbie community, so please if you've had a good/bad expereience, let us know here

Tuxevo

iTrader: (8)

I've heard nothing but good things. Never used them myself so no first hand experience though.

LetsGetThisDone

iTrader: (1)

The first 4g63 I built, kings were out of stock, and ACL's were available. So I used ACL. Didn't have an issue, so I just continued using them...lol. No real reasoning other than having had good luck with ACL's.

Twylyt

Agreed. I went with ACL on my first build because of all the good reviews. When I took the engine apart, the bearings were pristine, so they are in my current build. I'd recommend them. I haven't tried Kings so no comparison there.

roni4g63

iTrader: (1)

I feel you! I have 6 sets of king bearings sitting on my shelves, but just ordered 4 sets of acl's, gonna give these a try now.

roni4g63

iTrader: (1)

yeah I feel you, if you have a good experience with something it would be odd to try something else, I totally get it

94AWDcoupe

iTrader: (125)

sad truth is factory bearings are best. but few use them. after market is just easier and cheaper.

HawkeyeGeoff

This is the truth right here; really when you hear about bearing failures it's all about what the clearances were set at initially.

If you want a street car that will last a long time, I'd just go with OEM bearings.

This has been a consistent trend over most of the different platforms I've been on.

If you go with the high performance bearings, they WILL wear out faster and you will have to rebuild sooner.

Go OEM, build to the loosest end of the tolerance, and win. (For street car).

That being said, when I do Mazdaspeed builds (on like #5 or 6 I've helped organize), I will not discourage people from using Clevite or Kings bearings. They will last the typical 60k miles for high hp builds. If this is an end all motor for you though and just seeing moderate power and street (and you build your motor accordingly with tighter tolerances on the PWC) go with OEM and save yourself a headache.

LetsGetThisDone

iTrader: (1)

I haven't put real mileage on aftermarket bearings, but I have torn down a few motors I've built in the 5k to 20k mile range, and bearings always look great. Motors that saw real abuse; desert racing and sand dunes, etc. Oil clearance the same, or within 1 or 2 ten-thousandths, as when the motor was assembled.


I can say I've seen plenty of both OEM and aftermarket bearings pounded and ruined from bad tuning, which is mostly too much timing.

MRadjahoe

iTrader: (32)

Currently have 9k on King bearings. My clearances were all even between mains and the rods. Each bearing was perfect with each other.