Chevy journal rod bearings

Rolf · Post by **Rolf** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 2:36 pm

Just wondering, are the bearings for the rod with the Chevy journal a stock Chevy bearing or is it modifyed to fit a the vw crank?? What I'm thinking of is the rod/bearing width, is it the same a Chevy rod??

Thanks

Post by **Marc** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 3:04 pm

Actually the bearings used for the 2" "Chev" journal VW crank are Clevite CB610P, which are made for:
Buick V6 62-77, V8 61-80 215-350"
Pontiac 265-301" V8
They are narrow enough for the VW journal and the tangs are correctly positioned to fit a (narrowed) 2" Chev rod.
BTW, "P" has 2 meanings in Clevite-speak. Depending upon the "core" number it can mean Performance or merely Passenger.

vgajames · Post by **vgajames** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 3:35 pm

Yep! What Marc said.Here's what they look like:
Below here,Chevy(Buick) on left:

below here Chevy(Buick) on Bottom:

Shown are Clevite 77 CB-610P

MASSIVE TYPE IV · Post by **MASSIVE TYPE IV** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 3:46 pm

Right now there are some Federal Moguls running around in Clevite boxes!

I got several sets and wasted two engines! after 5K Rpm they ate themselves on the dyno, this was only 3 weeks ago WATCH IT!

Rolf · Post by **Rolf** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 8:50 am

Thanx !!! Just the info I needed

Rolf

Neil HAB · Post by **Neil HAB** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 4:33 pm

How about the 745H bearings? I've just bought a set and they seem too wide. Can I cut them down, or should I try to swap them? Prroblem is I'm supposed to be racing in a fortnight, and I haven't got much time!

petevw · Post by **petevw** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 10:40 pm

i don't know about the 610's. they seemed very wide. i had to shave down the one side of the bearing, on the top, and shave the opposite side for the bottom half of the bearing. had to redo the chamfer on them afterwards. after taking it apart last year i replaced them with a different clevite 77 bearing. i think they were the 1035's? i'll have to check. these needed some "grinding", but less than the 610's. i'll check on the other clevite number tommorrow.

Neil HAB · Post by **Neil HAB** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 3:38 pm

Pete, what did you use to shave the bearing down?

They are 21.5mm wide, whereas an old 610P bearing I had is only 18.5mm wide. The tang is in the same relative position to the one side tho, so I've got to take nearly 3mm of the one side of the bearing for them to sit in my rods correctly.

A little more than shaving!

Neil HAB · Post by **Neil HAB** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 12:18 pm

Got some CB610P bearings today - found out that they are actually for the 3.5 litre Rover V8 (for all the Europeans on here

) which is the same as the 215ci Buick motor! And only £16.99, rather than the £60 for the 745H bearings!

Anyone want a set of these for a Chevy of some sort?

69bug · Post by **69bug** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 12:37 pm

MASSIVE TYPE IV wrote:Right now there are some Federal Moguls running around in Clevite boxes!

I got several sets and wasted two engines! after 5K Rpm they ate themselves on the dyno, this was only 3 weeks ago WATCH IT!

speaking of brands...whats everyone's opinion on mahle brand bearings?

petevw · Post by **petevw** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 11:52 am

your right, the 610's needed like 3mm shaved off them. a local cylinder head shop ground them down on a horizontal sanding belt, and took a small file to the afterwards to create the chamfer on the side. this scared the crap out of me. i ran it like that for 800miles, seeing 8000rpm often. tore it down to see what they looked like. they looked fine. i figured i had originally got the wrong bearings. so i ordered a set of bearing from AC.net and ended up getting these wide bearing again!

went to a specialty crank shop, and left my crank and rods there. they sourced a much better "fitting" rod bearing. it was the clevite 77 CB 1238P it only needed minor "opening up" of the chamfers to fit the big outside radius of the crank journal better. i scraped them with a 6" metal scale/ruler.

from my experience i would buy the CB 1238P's.
anyone else try these?

note: i had bought my crank/rods at fisher buggies. 84mm crank, 5.7 eagle rods. when i first assembled them, the rod wouldn't fit into the crank journal. they were very wide. would just clear the counterweights. i call up fisher and sent them back. they machined the rods narrower, to fit. is this normal? does it make sense?

MASSIVE TYPE IV · Post by **MASSIVE TYPE IV** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 11:57 am

This is VERY scary stuff! Be very careful!

The size of the big end of the rod must be infinitely down to the spec of the bearings, or they will spin without even getting hot.. I'll post some pics tomorrow that you'll not like to see..

petevw · Post by **petevw** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 12:17 pm

its just that i have found nothing that fits properly out of the box. "modding" rod bearing scares the hell out of me. i've torn down the motor 3 times (every winter) and ran the 610's 1st, while putting the 1238's the last couple times. i hate playing with the rods.
the crank/rod shop mulled over my parts for a couple weeks to come up with the 1238's. they took every possible measurement, looked up specs, and cross refrenced everthing. this was their decision. but man, i give them a talk, and a kiss goodluck everytime i put them together on my bench!

considering the chevy journal is now the norm in stroker cranks, why am i having all this trouble?
any other experiences? please share.

Da48King · Post by **Da48King** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 11:29 am

Neil HAB wrote:Got some CB610P bearings today - found out that they are actually for the 3.5 litre Rover V8 (for all the Europeans on here ) which is the same as the 215ci Buick motor! And only £16.99, rather than the £60 for the 745H bearings!

Anyone want a set of these for a Chevy of some sort?

The 745H bearing is out of a 327 Chevy. It is a much better bearing than the CB 610P. But yes it needs to be narrowed. I have a special fixture that I use to machine them to the correct width.

Pauter Machine sells these bearing already machined to the width used on VW cranks with Chevy journals. Email me I'll take them of of your hands kindly.

kevin @ No Dollars Racing · Tue Mar 30, 2004 8:49 am

Not trying to steal the post, but I also have a 84MM Scat crank w/Chevy journals. I just purchased a set of Carillo 5.6 rods. Am I going to have to purchase some special bearing or will I have to modify a set like the rest of these guys are talking about? It will be a little while before this engine goes together but would like to get all my little duckies in a row first. Thanks in advance and I will keep an eye on this post.