Thread: Need your opinion on these worn rod bearings

What you think about these bearings? SR20VE with lightened pulleys and Fidanza FW. Saw 8K regularly and sometimes close to 9k (on N1 cams). Good oil and some Liqui Moly Ceratec on the last period. Mileage was something like this: 50K Stock pulley (Japan) 10K modified UR Pulley, lastly 20K Gspec… then throttle screw got fed into the engine... This motor went to part out… However I would like to hear opinions on the condition or what can you make out of it. 1 & 2 seem more worn out than the others. Is this horribly worn or not that bad?

Noody has anything to say?

seems to be pretty good for a motor with 80k and 50k of that you know nothing of.

Where can I get the high res version?

They don't look to bad but those pictures are not close enough to see the surface well. What does the crank journals look like?

*WARNING* THeY HuGe!!!! (36megapixels)

1.- https://d114fe73c3a414778bc2bf68f0ffa9f084f217d7.googledrive.com/host/0B0yj_qmk50amenA0MlplRlZ6Nms/2013-11-18-1540.jpg
2.- https://d114fe73c3a414778bc2bf68f0ffa9f084f217d7.googledrive.com/host/0B0yj_qmk50amenA0MlplRlZ6Nms/2013-11-18-1545.jpg
3.- https://d114fe73c3a414778bc2bf68f0ffa9f084f217d7.googledrive.com/host/0B0yj_qmk50amenA0MlplRlZ6Nms/2013-11-18-1549.jpg
4.- https://d114fe73c3a414778bc2bf68f0ffa9f084f217d7.googledrive.com/host/0B0yj_qmk50amenA0MlplRlZ6Nms/2013-11-18-1555.jpg

Not that bad actually


Crank journal 1


Crank journal 2


Crank journal 3


Crank journal 4

That's a bit more wear than I like to see. No huge chunks of anything caught in the bearing material (like you see with people who drill an oil drain and don't catch all the filings), but just general pounding wear especially on the bottom half. I wouldn't be surprised if this engine was exhibiting the tiniest signs of rod knock. Nothing looks overheated though, so it seems oil was always where it needed to be. I've seen much better come out of engines with more mileage. I've also seen some bearings from the most minor of rod knocks and they looked more like yours. Then I've seen some horror shows, and yours aren't that bad.

I would attribute the wear to the regular high RPM use. It sounds like the engine had a good life.

Thanks for your answer man. I was expecting something like this. What I would like to establish if this accelerated wear is indeed because of lightened pulleys. There was a lot of debate on the old forum about the 4cw crank, lightened pulleys and crazy revs. If it is so, then this is the first documented case made public of rod bearings about to be fubared with not so many miles. I will leave the pictures there for reference, in case somebody would like to contribute with more evidence.

The cylinders furthest away from the flywheel are the ones that will suffer the most from the lack of a harmonic damper (if in fact the absence of a damper actually causes accelerated bearing wear), so you might be on to something.
Was this a sprung clutch or solid?

Either way, if you ask me, those bearings lasted as long as they were going to last regardless of damper or not. 8-9k RPM on the regular is a big ask for any SR20 setup for such a long time. A bit of abnormal wear is to be expected.

There is no way that engine had 50k on it from Japan. Try maybe 150k.