Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi, keeping supplier anonymous, my new shell bearings arrived today, the underside are covered in surface rust. Do I clean them with fine paper or send back.

Thanks

I have never seen shell bearings with surface rust. They are usually protected by wax paper or similar, so you question the age and storage conditions. I would return and get some from another supplier.

Absoluitely, poor service and QA on their part !

The paper wrapping them looks very old, absolutely no protection, one is even gouged i will be one the phone later. Hopefully theey are not trying to pull a fast one as I live in NZ

Have you any photos of the bearings to show?

If the bearings are new old stock and not newly manufactured this is a regular problem (not to say it's acceptable).

Some NOS bearings have some deterioration to the bearing face where they look discoloured - this is also an issue.

not the best for a blueprinted engine, but if in a pinch and eager to get going, I would rather use scotch brite, to smooth out any protruding rust bits that may prevent proper seating (avoiding to embed particles in the soft bearing material). Once in oil, corrosion is not likely to resume...

Internals are fine

Outside face. 1st one has had some light 1000 gauge paper on it

street wrote:Outside face. 1st one has had some light 1000 gauge paper on it

Is it definitely not protective grease that has discoloured them?

The don't look like proper spec bearings for a Twincam - they look like standard duty Silicon Alloy. Original bearings were heavy duty lead/bronze with lead overlay - they have a dull look whereas those in your picture look shiny?

I'm sure plenty of people have fitted that type of bearing without issue but just thought I would mention it in case you aren't aware.

These are from SJS so would of thought they are the right spec

This is a bit off topic. When I last had any machining work done, the bearings that the machine shop supplied came from Tasmania, and I think the company was ACL. I know you are not in Tasmania, but that is much closer than the UK. Might be worth checking with ACL, before sending your scruffy set back to the UK.

Hope this helps,

Richard Hawkins

In my dealings with SJS I have always found them to be fair and helpful. I would suggest you email those pictures to them and see their response.

street wrote:These are from SJS so would of thought they are the right spec

What brand and part number are they? Clevite?

Looks like old stock that has been opened years ago and then not properly rewrapped and stored. New bearings these days come seal in shrink wrap and typically have a very thin layer of oil on them to protect inside the packaging.

I personally would return as unsuitable given the corrosion and buy new stock bearings which should be available locally in NZ through autoparts suppliers from ACL

cheers
Rohan