Imperfections in bearings

[Sam]

Has anyone else noticed an increase in imperfections in of all parts, bearings?  Im trying to build an engine, but one new rod bearing has a little lump in the coating, i didnt notice it visually, but when I installed it i could feel something, so i took it off and sure enough had a small lump in the coating, looks kindof like rust does under paint.... 

you should be able to "slap together" an engine from all new parts, but i know it doesn't work that way.

[Busstom]

Big time!  I bought some Kolbenschmidt mains a while back, man were they crap.  ALL of them were knicked or dinged in some way, with various scuffs and whatnot. 

But the mack daddy of all was, the two halves which make up main #2 were essentially "twisted," (see pic) so when they laid in the saddles, the bottom edge hung off the one side of the saddle, while the top edge hung off the other side of the saddle.  Note the lack of parallelism between the edge of the bearing and the actual oil groove.

So I moaned my beef with CB, and they replaced it.  The replacement wasn't much better, but even worse, it was too big, so if I bolted the case halves together, the bearing halves would've met waaayyyy before the case ever closed.  Yes, a bit of crush is normal, but this was about .050 on both sides, it would've destroyed the bearings and clamped them on the crank. 

So I gave up, and went with Mahles.  Much better (to my surprise).  I would've thought Kolbys would be the best.  Anyway, I posted the whole deal right here, and it evoked little response.  I can't imagine tons of people aren't running into these problems.   

[Donny B.]

A while back I helped a friend with his stock 1600.  He bought new bearings from a local vendor and we bolted it up and the crank got tight.  I thought we pinched a bearing on a dowel pin.  We hadn't.  Got a new set and the problem went away.  The split bearings were undersize on the ID.  I had never seen that before.  These were Mahle bearings so it is happening everywhere.

[Busstom]

These were Mahle bearings so it is happening everywhere.

Yikes!

One interesting difference I noticed between the two is that Kolbys have the oiling groove on the crank journal side, whereas the Mahles have the groove on the saddle side (at least on the split halves, if I recall).

Edit: Hi Donny, I sent you a project update in PM, but not sure if it went through cuz it's not showing in my "Sent" folder...

[Donny B.]

Hi Donny, I sent you a project update in PM, but not sure if it went through cuz it's not showing in my "Sent" folder...

No, I didn't get it. 

[S/P4884]

 I was told by my importer that the Kolbenschmidt bearings are now made in Brazil.

[Sam]

mine were mahle.