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I've never built an engine so I have no clue what this should look like.
I remembers the builder say Cleveland coated bearings. I'm replacing the rear main seal and thought I'd pull a cap and see what it looks like.
The circles can be indicative of foreign particle that’s lodged and creates a “hot spot”
the streaks are also indicative of dirt/debris in the oil.
How many miles are on these bearings?
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C3 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2016 C3 of Year Finalist
The egg shape wear areas are through your bearing surface or babbit as others have pointed out. Since its all apart not replacing bearings is malfeasance on your part. This is a very good opportunity to do a quick overhaul on your motor for cheap money. Replacing all the bearings and rings while its apart will give you years of good driving without having to remove the motor again. The builder used Clevite bearings but i would suggest goingvwith King 3 layer bearings. Had a lot of bad issues with the current crop of Clevite Mahle bearings on 2 motors
how many miles on this one
when you rplace the rear main seal pay attention to which way the lip on th eseal is facing. Really clean the area well and I like to use a very thin coat of ultra black sealant on the metal to metal faces and a little extra where the 2 seals meet, torque it, give the crank a turn then let it sit over night let the silicone dry. everyone has there own way but this helps to keep mine from leaking. And i do a very thin coat on my one piece oil pan seal, both sides as well. It may get torn up when I need to remove it next time around but it wont leak.
Last edited by Rescue Rogers; Nov 25, 2023 at 08:21 AM.
That bearing got dry for a moment or two.......
I second the recommendation for King Bearings.......Clevite have gotten too proud of their stuff.......the most important aspect of the bearing is how they measure and that repeatability in their production quality control.......King are always on the money......and the manufacturing precision is off the chart for as much as they cost......they just look like money out of the box......
Clevite looks like a dumpster fire out of the box....so disapointed with Clevite
I just rebuilt my motor, went with clevite, first time using them. Maybe I got lucky but they seemed high quality…. Only got about 100 miles and one pass on the motor so too early to tell.
what were you seeing? Gouges in the babbitt? Wrong sizing?
It looks pretty normal for a bearing with some miles. If it’s a stock L48 that gets driven 200 miles a year I would run it. Bearings are pretty cheap and you are already there, so it wouldn’t hurt to freshen them up if you’re going to drive it.
Main cap Bearing
