PreWarCar Workshop: pouring Babbitt bearings

Part of our beloved hobby is the restoration/ maintanance of your old motorcar. Just recently we have started a series of repair projects under the name "PreWarCar Workshop". This week, we like to show you the subject of white metal bearings, brought to you by expert Charles Qua. With his directions and 'secret' tips we managed to pour the babbit of our ow Amilcar. It's no rocket science. 1. take ample time and do your preparations very careful 2. try to work as clean as possible 3. don't be afraid to do the pouring twice or three times when the result is not up to your own standards. Finally, read and listen to the instructions of Charles below. Or find your own nearby expert for help.

By Charles Qua: "When you are talking about vintage car engines it won't take long for the subject of White Metal bearings or Babbitt alloy (Babbit, Babbits ) will come up with stories like: "please no Babbitt anymore" , "only shells " and "had a hole in the crankcase because of a broken babbitted big end bearing" etc.

The use of this White Metal alloy is not an outdated technique. Plain white metal bearings which are similar to the ones in our cars, are extensively used, for example, in modern turbines.

The movie-tutorial I recently made will show you step by step how to pour a quality bearing. To prevent the movie being too long, I did not include the theory behind the different steps.

Pouring Babbitt: you could do it yourself with a quaranteed bearing life of at least a 100 000 km!
If you do not have the machining to finish the job, you can have that part done by a machinist; anyway you will know the bearing is fine as the correct material is used in combination with a perfect bonding to the shell or bearing housing.

By knowing about the essentials when pouring Babbitt, one can better judge, when this type of work is outsourced , if the shop has the knowledge about what they are doing.

Text and film by Charles J. Qua

If you want to share your projects for a future 'PreWarCar Workshop', let us know!

Published:

Sunday April 10th, 2016

Unknown

11 April 2016, 12:36

Another excellent tutorial for the workshop series. Thanks!
As a suggestion, could the "workshop" articles have their own place on the website, with the articles maybe grouped by area (engine, gearbox, chassis etc.) This will enable us to return to them at a later date easily.
For example, In a year or two, I will need to re-white metal the bearings on my Amilcar, and this article will be VERY important to that process. :)

Unknown

11 April 2016, 09:58

Pure Craftsmanship! Well done Charles.

Tony Hillyard

11 April 2016, 07:27

Thanks for the excellent idea for a "Prewarcar Workshop. Now that really is useful. I have made one or two videos on Youtube with the idea of passing on some knowledge. To watch the Movie-tutorial on white metal bearing repair is very helpful. If we are not careful, much of the expertise out there, and there is a great deal of it, will be lost to coming generations.

I for one look forward to the next tutorial.

PreWarCar Workshop: pouring Babbitt bearings

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