Going down the babbitt hole

[Hickory]

I will post my engine experience so other early babbitt owners may have some references. I own a 1929 DeSoto and the engine is babbitt poured bearings. There isn't a lot of info out there on these engines, or a lot of help. The knowledge is limited on my normal forums ( yes this includes the NDC and here) on the babbitt engines. I am so grateful for the help that I received on my 49 Chrysler so I will try to return the info I get on my 29. I will post pictures as this process develops. I have already sent my crank out to be turned.  I have found info to help from a Facebook group for flathead 6s and of course the Jalopy journal (hamb). There are a couple others but those two have helped a bit. I will be back with pics tomorrow.

[D35 Torpedo]

Check out Keith Rucker on youtube. He has vids about pouring babbitt bearings. It looks like fun.

[Hickory]

Today I started stripping the block and soaking it. I took some pictures that I will share.

[Hickory]

[Hickory]

[Hickory]

And here is my rear main that started to delaminate.

[Hickory]

My intake and exhaust in the tumbler. Looks like they need a little more time.

[Hickory]

I do have the luxury of having some machines at work to save money. We have valve grinders, hot tank, bead tumbler, lathe. I'm hoping to get the crank back early next week.

[D35 Torpedo]

That looks like a shell bearing to me. But, I've never been into a babbitt bearing engine. Looks good so far. 

[Hickory]

It is a removable shell. Look at how thick it is. This is a babbitted shell. It threw me for a loop too. But I have been told it is babbitt. I will post pics of rods at lunch and those are straight babbitt and no shell.

[Hickory]

[Hickory]

Got my crank back today, she's so pretty.

[Hickory]

The counter weights for the crank actually bolt on. Crank is .010 under

[Hickory]

Ground a new edge on my valves yesterday and disassembled my pistons.

[D35 Torpedo]

10 hours ago, Hickory said:

The counter weights for the crank actually bolt on. Crank is .010 under

One size fits all

[oldodge41]

Keep the pics coming. I've never dealt with babbit bearings, and probably never will, but I still want to learn.

[Los_Control]

Yes I also like seeing this old type of auto repairs.

I like to watch some of JonathanW work on youtube with his old steam engines.

He posted a couple videos on how he makes his babbit bearings. Here is one of them .... not sure what is included in it.

I have watched one video where he shows how he picks the junk metal to melt down to come up with his own recipe for bronze.

Not really high tech, but works for the RPM his old engines work at.

 

 

 

[Hickory]

So for the babbitt pouring I have picked Paul's in Parkville M.O.  The company I was going to use was a 2 hour drive from my house but my machine shop had horrible things to say about them. Then they told me to use Paul's.  I can ship them the rods and just the main bearing shells and they can pour with the measurements. They will pour the main shells .060 under and then I get the block line boared here saving me the expense of shipping the block. Then they will pour my rods to .017(I believe that's correct)clearance and then I can polish them for more clearance if I want. They use their own babbitt blend that resists wear to the babbitt and the crank so  the use of shims are not necessary.

[Hickory]

Today I shipped out the mains and rods. Now there is no going back. During lunch I removed the porky pine top to my block. What fun 

[Hickory]

Tomorrow I will clean the head surface. I like to use a D.A. sander to keep it flat and true.

[Hickory]

These are the crank counter weights. They had to be removed so the crank could be turned.

[Hickory]

I cleaned up the head and intake/exhaust part of the block today on lunch. I also removed the intake/exhaust manifold from the bead blaster and primed them.

[Hickory]

[Hickory]

[Hickory]

So last night I lapped the valves and painted the exhaust manifold