Hi. Just collected my ABF crank and block from the machinist. They supplied the mains and big end bearings as requested by me. mains are make by KS who are the original manufacturers so no big drama there, but the big ends are made by King racing. Has anyone got any experience of these? Are they any good? Would I be better sourcing some KS ones?? Cheers
King are american, top spec bearings but do lots of grades from OE to on full on race. I'd be ok with them. I've always found KS ok for most applications.
Don't get me wrong, i'm very happy with KS bearings as they are made in Germany and the original ones I pulled out of the engine are made by them aswell as having the VAG logo. Was just unsure about the King ones as I've never heard of them and it says they are made in Israel.....which I have never considered as a manufacturing country....everyday is a school day it seems.
I use KS, who are OE suppliers for engine bearing to VW/Audi/Seat/Skoda or ACL 'race' bearings in VAG engines, including my own, run for 1000s of miles. Some also use Glyco (formally AE). I seen the King brand on ebay, but not as familiar with them for durability on VAG engines. On one of my turbocharged vehicles recently, OE fitted KS bearings, covered 133,000 miles and were well within manufacturers tolerance ~ 0.076-0.055 mm. The limit is 0.12 mm. Did a rod upgrade and replaced with ACL 'race' bearings, which were a tad bit tighter than the aged ones @ 0.045-0.055 mm.
I've never used King Bearings, always used KS, good price v quality option. Trying to get a deal from their UK distributor, but hard work, they don't like coming to Wales!! I met with King at the Auto sport show on the trade day this year. I had read the specs on their website and talking to them/looking at the product it would seem to be good, but like I say never used them. Gave me loads of kit, pens sticker,etc so must be ok, Lol Seriously though I'd use them, what I've seen looks good.
King > http://www.kingbearings.com/about/qa/ http://www.kingbearings.com/catalog/ KS-TRW > http://www.ms-motorservice.com/en/products-catalogues/ks-trw-products/engine-bearings/ Glyco > http://www.federalmogulmp.com/en-GB...x?CategoryId=2&SubCategoryId=32&ProductId=531 Mahle- Vandervell > http://www.vandervell.co.uk/aftermarketrange.php Mahle- Clevite > http://www.mahle-aftermarket.com/na/en/catalogs-&-literature/catalog-pdfs/engine-bearings/ ACL > http://www.aclraceseries.com/ http://www.aclraceseries.com/images/catalog.pdf Calico ( Coated ACL OR Mahle clevite Bearings ) > http://www.calicocoatings.com/bearings/ Some time ago there was some talk that ACL was taken over by King...
These are the ones that I have been supplied with........ http://www.king-catalog.com/Catalog/Set/CR4104XP
ACL as they were are no longer, sold the name and closed up shop. Not 100% on who bought them apart from being a company from the US, which adds up
I used King pistons in a 20XE build. They were OE spec pistons and held up to 8200rpm perfectly fine for 15000 miles before I sold it. Still going strong now as a track car.
King bearings are decent...used them in a race engine recently and stood up to dyno abuse no problem at all. Use to use a lot of Glyco (another o.e supplier like ks) but had a few sets recently that were twisted out of the packet...easy to spot once installed...so use either ks or mahle now. Old ACL duraglides were brilliant as were Glyco until the recent quality issues.
That's interesting Jason, I had the same issue with a set of glycos too, twisted radially. I have used king mains bearings in 2x engines including my own without issue. Gurds
^^^ Never had issues with Glyco in the past, might be a bad badge that has slipped trough QC ? Think as long you stay with the big brands you are on the safe side as most supply the OEM market
Really...not just me then. A real shame as I liked Glyco a lot and never had a problem before the 2 sets...I don't have time to keep messing about so I've dropped them for now.
