Lost; Bearing Buddy.Reward!

[gofastsandman]

Lost a buddy bearing on the way home. Nothing left of the seal. The inner race of the inner bearing looks like a W. 1/16" by the shoulder. Outer race was completely gone. No carrier.What was left of the needle bearings were hiding where the seal used to be. The good news is the spindle was fine with a little emery dressing. Another couple of miles and it would`ve been a new axle....

Mike at Tuppen`s is the local trailer guru. I have less than 20 hrs on new hubs etc. I didn`t bring a complete trailer kit because I had just done them. I grease them when I get home from the ramp. 15 min @ 35 mph. I had my floor jack, breaker bar ,and grease gun. Thought I`d be fine.

WRONG! I never saw any smoke. I didn`t stop to feel the heat along the way. I didn`t grease them up before I left because, "I didn`t splash her when they were hot". The bearings were cold when I launched and pulled. So was the water. Not for long. Water + heat = pressure. Pressure = premature ejection for the little buddy. Loss of buddy = loss of grease. Hope I didn`t hurt anyone.

I hadn`t considered the water. Mike said that`s why they blow out. Grease up off the ramp from now on.

Most of the time I love learning new things.
GFS

[lost2a6]

I believe that you might of had another problem. The reason why I say this is because the Bearing Buddy has a spring loaded plunger and also has a relief hole in the side of it. Once the plunger goes past the hole, then the hole is exposed to the inside of the Bearing Buddy. When this happens it is going to relieve any grease and or air therefore relieving pressure. I think that the bearing went south first therefore knocking out the B.B.

[gofastsandman]

That`s another question. How far out should I pump the spring when filling. I didn`t know about the hole , thanks for the heads up.

It was great meeting your clan Steve and the `Vette was a rare beauty indeed. Thanks for making the effort. We are all still scratching our heads wondering what that big block will turn for numbers. Can you get wot or will it chine walk first?

Your stereo was LOUD, but that big block played a much sweeter song imo. What kinda cam and compression numbers are you runnin? Idled nicely and jumped on the cam going to the pin. Really sweet!
Sandy

[eggsuckindog]

The majority of this is caused by too much grease and when warming up pushes it out. Just don't fill it all the way out. I would say at least 1/2" from the outter ring JMO

[gofastsandman]

I was always told to fill it `till it just starts to move out 1/8".
Nice meeting you!
Just finishing up the rigger pads. Overbore, epoxy w/ milled fiber and re-bed/caulk.
GFS

[lost2a6]

That`s another question. How far out should I pump the spring when filling. I didn`t know about the hole , thanks for the heads up.

It was great meeting your clan Steve and the `Vette was a rare beauty indeed. Thanks for making the effort. We are all still scratching our heads wondering what that big block will turn for numbers. Can you get wot or will it chine walk first?

Your stereo was LOUD, but that big block played a much sweeter song imo. What kinda cam and compression numbers are you runnin? Idled nicely and jumped on the cam going to the pin. Really sweet!
Sandy

Thanks, I really enjoyed meeting you guys. I tried to keep my crew at bay. My friends wife likes to get a little tipsy and cut loose, she's a hoot when she gets that way. That's one reason why we left for a few hours, we went to one of those little islands by ourselves. She and my wife put in some boody shaking music and cut loose.
The Vette had a factory Mercruiser 420HP 454 in it when I got it. Make a long story short, that engine blew and I just threw together another one from various parts that I had lying around. As a result, this engine is stronger than the 420 was. So I'm purely guessing but I would say that it's making around 450-475 HP. With the 420, the boat would run about 54 mph, and with this engine it will run 58 mph. The boat is heavy and the drive is inefficient so that sort of has it limited to the MPH. I mainly wanted it to sound good, I'm not too concern with the speed. The engine is low compression (flat top pistons), around 8.5-8.75:1. The cam is a Ultradyne flat tappet hydraulic, lift = .550 intake and .575 exhaust. I think on the duration, intake = 231* @.050 and exhaust = 239* @.050, the lobe separation is @110*. The cam is supposed to be a re make of the first original Mercruiser 440HP 454 cam. The heads are from a 1969 396 casting # 148. They are the big oval ports with the semi open chamber. I had the heads shaved .040 and had them cut for the large valves which came out of the 420HP engine. It has a holley 800cfm double pumper carb from the 420HP engine. The intake manifold is a factory aluminum GM high rise dual plane with the brass in the water jackets for the salt H2O. The boat doesn't chime walk but it will get squirrelly in a little chop at speed.

[gofastsandman]

Love the build #s. I`m old school too. Had a `52 F1 w/ a `50 Olds rocket 88 303 ci w/ a Hurst adapter plate and the orig 3 in the tree. Bored and stroked,shaved and decked, ported and polished, and balanced through the clutch. Vintage Wieand hi-rise w/ trip Strom 97`s on a crappy progressive linkage. Didn`t have a flow meter as a kid and it was a long tune session to get em synched, but when it was right it was FUN. I too chose a less radical duration. What good is torque if if comes in @3500? I ran a 260/512 and it would roast em all day w/ the granny and well into 2`nd. It was 9 different colors and a great sleeper w/ the sneaky cable gate exhaust cut outs and steel wheels. Long before I`d ever heard of rat rods.

Most go fast boats are way over cammed and idle poorly. Did those 396 heads cc the same as the 454`s after the port and valve work or did it bump the comp a tad. Sounded like 10-1 to me but it may have been the beer and the awesome chrome yellow paint job. Looks like you`ve got room for a livewell.


GFS

[lost2a6]

Cool, the 420HP heads were the large square ports and large valves, that engine had no low end torque. The boat would barely plane off with out the trim tabs. The 420 engine had a .095 dome piston with 118cc chamber heads. That engine was around 8.75-8.8:1 comp. The 396 heads have the typical large ovals and the combustion chamber was around 110cc before they were shaved. They haven't been ported, we just did some blending where the large valves were installed. I never took the time to really figure where the compression is but with the flat tops I'm thinking that it is about where the old 420 was. IMO those large square ports don't belong on a marine engine that is turning less than 6,000 RPM. The only thing is the 420 had the steel crank, dimple rods (7/16 bolts) and forged pistons. This engine has the 4 bolt mains but has the cast crank and pistons, and the rods have the smaller 3/8 bolts. As long as I keep the Rpm’s at 5,000 or less then it should be just fine. You'll appreciate the rat rod that my buddy built, I'll try to get some pics for you.

[gofastsandman]

The cast crank should be fine as long as you don`t spin a bearing. You probably used ARP rod bolts. I can swear by them as the crappy linkage stuck on me one day and I pegged the old Sun tach @ 10k for a sec before I got to the key. They didn`t let go and I thought I toasted my motor. I think balancing the motor through the clutch saved my bacon.
Love to see the pics of your friends rat.
GFS