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Custom Clevite Rod Bearings for S65/S85

20K views 49 replies 26 participants last post by  uc 
#1 ·
Many of you may be familiar with my work on m3post in the "S65 Bearing Wiki" thread. Many have become aware of the bearing clearance problem in the S65/S85, and the proposed solutions and workarounds. Well finally, new bearings are being made to address the bearing clearance issue.

A tremendous amount of work has gone into getting these manufactured.

There are many players in making this happen. Myself (PG and Regular Guy) and kawasaki00 have worked on this for a long time to get the best product to market. There are also other players involved that will remain anonymous until official launch and sales.

Here is where we are today.
1 Clevite has received specs and samples. The engineering department is currently working on prints.
2 Blueprints from Clevite will be sent mid January for final sign off approval.
3 Upon our approval production of the bearings will be complete May 2015.

The bearings will be lead copper based with Clevite low friction "Tri-Armor" coating. Clearance specs are designed to be correct with the coatings.

Vendor will be announced at a later date, though vendor distribution is already setup. The vendor will be somebody many of you already know.
 
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#2 ·
Many of you may be familiar with my work on m3post in the "S65 Bearing Wiki" thread. Many have become aware of the bearing clearance problem in the S65/S85, and the proposed solutions and workarounds. Well finally, new bearings are being made to address the bearing clearance issue.



A tremendous amount of work has gone into getting these manufactured.



There are many players in making this happen. Myself (PG and Regular Guy) and kawasaki00 have worked on this for a long time to get the best product to market. There are also other players involved that will remain anonymous until official launch and sales.



Here is where we are today.

1 Clevite has received specs and samples. The engineering department is currently working on prints.

2 Blueprints from Clevite will be sent mid January for final sign off approval.

3 Upon our approval production of the bearings will be complete May 2015.



The bearings will be lead copper based with Clevite low friction "Tri-Armor" coating. Clearance specs are designed to be correct with the coatings.



Vendor will be announced at a later date, though vendor distribution is already setup. The vendor will be somebody many of you already know.

Thanks PG. I've been following the thread on m3post. We are all looking forward to a s85 package!


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#6 ·
Thanks again for all your work. I, too, was following your posts on m3post. I replaced my bearings at 84,000 as a preventative maintenance item last summer. At the time, the only solution was the updated OEM bearings from BMW. I'm 24,000 miles into those bearings.

I'm excited to learn of the new Clevite option for my next bearing swap in 36,000 miles.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Here's some questions and answers about the bearings.

Q: If BMW doesn't publish the rod journal specs, how did you come up with one?
A. Twelve crankshafts were measured, 96 journals, three sources, three people measuring with three sets of instruments. This approach helps identify and account for rod journal size variance. It also guarantees that any differences in instruments, calibration, or measuring techniques are identified as well.

Q. What were the results?
A. The 96 journal measurements did not deviate from the measurements of "S65 Bearing Wiki" thread, but did help identify the manufacturing tolerance limits of the crankshaft.

Q. What was the distribution of measurements?
A. 17 pcs. -0.00010 inch, 53 pcs. nominal, 14 pcs. +0.00010 inch, 9 pcs +0.00020 inch, 3 pcs +0.00030 inch.

Q. Does this shed any light on the bearing clearance issue?
A. You be the judge. The measurements distribution tells the tale.

Q. Who selected the new bearing clearance, and how was it chosen?
A. I did not personally choose the bearing clearance. Three separate engine builders were consulted. Other than Van Dyne Engineering (Indy-500 winning), I don't have permission to name the other two. One of the other two is one of the most successful BMW race engine builders; the other is one of the most successful NASCAR engine builders.

Q. Who designed the bearings, and who reviewed the design?
A. Clevite (BMW OEM manufacturer) designed the bearings. Once the blueprints are completed, the same three engine builders mentioned above will review and approve. The original BMW S14 engine designer will review and approve them as well.

Q. How many sets will be made?
A. The initial manufacturing run will be 2000 shells, 125 sets (V8), 100 sets (V10).

Q. Will there be over sized bearings available for reground crankshafts?
A. No, not at this time.

Q. Who will be selling them?
A. Not me, I'm not a business. Sales distribution will be announced at a later time. A sales channel is already in place. Most of you will recognize the sales business.

Q. Will you also sell to the S85-V10 guys?
A. Yes, of course.

Q. What is the cost?
A. I really don't know the cost because I'm not the guy selling them. It's my understanding the cost will be a little more expensive, but very much in line with the original BMW 088/089 (lead-copper) bearings.
 
#11 ·
Great news! Nice work.
 
#15 ·
Everyone that is involved in the development and bringing this product to the market should be commended. The initiative provided by you, PencilGeek, Regular Guy and Kawasaki00 are about reproach and a huge impact to various BMW M communities. My sincere gratitude for spearheading a project of this magintude and bringing a worthy product to fruitition. Truley a HUGE feat.
Unfortunately, I am currently in the process of replacing my rod bearings with the best product available at this time. At least I will have piece of mind during the next bearing change in a few years.
 
#18 ·
May cannot get here fast enough! Although I just did get a total motor replacement/build from Troy...it's nice to see a beefier 702/703 option.
 
#22 ·
Is it me or has this custom bearing been dragging on for well over 1 year? I think the general majority go with oem or wpc treated, i will be going with wpc when i get round to mine, and wont be fitting custom bearings when bmw has perfectly suitable ones on the shelf and at a resonable cost
 
#25 · (Edited)
Wow! Just in time, I'm having the rod bearings changed (finally) on my M5 at the end of the month.


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#28 ·
I will not install any other bearing on any engine I rebuild / change bearings in from now on. The combination of tri-metal and additional clearance has my vote.

I haven't posted much here about it, but will put up pictures of the last set I changed. These came out of my own engine and were about 14k miles old. WPC treated 702/703 and 0W-40, religious warm ups. They looked like 50k bearings. I'll eat crow, I don't think the thinner oil helped at all and perhaps aggravated it. Since I changed bearing composition and oil at the same time, it's hard to tell, but I don't think the WPC treatment was the factor here.

I have a crankshaft getting repaired now and was going to have it ground under to add clearance. Now, I let the guy know to leave the rod journals alone and I have a set of these on order.
 
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