Spigot or Pilot Bearing Choice

[Joe T]

Are there any preferences on the type of spigot/pilot bearing used these days, I notice that roller enclosed bearing types of variuos sizes seem readily available. Are these preferable to needle roller or bronze bush.

With roller type bearings where is the interference fit in the crank?or in the crank and on the shaft?

Cheers

Joe

[StuartB]

Joe,
It`s a kinda `horses for courses` thing, depends on the application and input shaft design etc, etc but as a rule of thumb I like neddle rollers in a full steel cage, (interferance fit in the crank) for race and phos` bronze for long term road.
Less friction on a roller set up but likely to cause damage to the input shaft when it fails through wear and tear, the phos` bronze plain bush will carry a smidge more friction (not that you`ll ever notice) but not wreck the input shaft if it all goes tits up.
To be honest, don`t worry about it mate, fit the same original system that was used with the transmssion your using if you can (unless it has a reputation for failure) and you`ll not go wrong.

[Joe T]

Thanks, I have seen ads for the sealed bearing type and just wondered what they were like, I have also had some disasters with needle rollers chewing the shaft.So Pho/bronze it is then , at least I can machine that to size.

I read with interest your other post regarding the Forum, I actually agree with your opinion, as a prospective GT40 purchaser I spent quite a while asking what to some probably seem stupid questions.
Despite the advice of searching previuos posts for the info I could never really find what I was looking for, the results seemed a bit chaotic no matter how you search.

I think its good to question the direction something is going in, whilst I think this forum is good, I often think it lacks factual information like data sheets and referencing info in some form of index to make it easy to find stuff. Maybe its a cost implication.

Even after travelling halfway round the world to look at GT40 manufacturers I didnt take the plunge, mostly because I felt a lot of the GT40 replicas were pretty much the same, apart from RCR's monocoque which I would like to see and is utilising modern manufacturing technology.
I sort of lost the plot with the whole keeping it authentic theme.

Thanks
Joe

[Ron Earp]

Hi Joe and Stuart,

both of you mention or hint at an index for "factual" information and quick lookup guides for common issues. There are a huge number of hurdles to doing something like that, but the least of it is money.

The biggest thing is time - someone would have to seriously work on this type of endevour a few hours a day for several months to make a go of it. A nice fellow voluentered to do that a few years back, but the effort sort of fizzled and died. Any effort to do this would require the users (you, me, everyone else) to write articles dealing with subjects and then complie them into a list. Since most people find it hard to find time to work on their car, much less write about it, we don't see a lot of this going on.

The forum does it in a way, but it certainly isn't organized into "a list" - it requires works with the search engine and reading lots of post to find everything out. Probably about as good as it is going to get, unless someone wants to take up the flag on making a FAQ. I've got too much on my plate to consider such a thing, just keeping this running with my car hobbies is enough, anyone want to take on that job? Buehler? Anyone?

Ron

[Joe T]

Hello Ron

I appreciate your answers to the points above, and please dont think I dont appreciate the site it must have grown faster than you could imagine and it is a very successful site.

On the topic of time surely some of the manufactures could be responsible for posting datasheets,reports and PDF's of there cars and build techniques, and maybe other specialists could contribute in there given area of expertise, gearboxes, engines, would it not be in there interests? if they were commercially minded enough they could then link there own website to there particular knowledge base.
Is the time aspect the building the framework of a database that allows select users to enter and place information?
I have been working with guys using the PHP/MYSQL (open source)stuff which almost comes tailored for this off the shelf (Mambo Etc).
Or is it the time involved in managing the people putting stuff in the database? Policing it etc

Just imagine "the definitive guide to choosing a gearbox", I suspect someone could make a book out of that from the stuff published on here! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Bill Musarra]

One of the things I did when I finally bit the bullet, was to save various threads which were of interest about the GT40s.I used the search function to find some that I had missed from when this forum first started, and others as I would read them. I also would email some of the mambers to ask point specific questions about a problem or idea. To date I have 490 threads on everything from headlites to gear ratios. I set up a file on a 250 gig zip drive for GT40s forum and I store all of them for reference. It even has the pics posted and if there is a referenced web page or site I can just click it and I am there(the wonders of DSL). The only bad part is that it has taken me 3+ years to establish it, and it takes a while to find things, because I have to read almost the entire thread to get the jist of the thread or the tidbit I was searching for. Even if no one post on a thread for a while, when saving a new post on an old thread, I usually use the title of the thread to save it and the computer ask me if I want to overwrite the old title and info, which I do. If it's got multiple pages, I go to the "show all" page selection and save it. If the thread has some strange title or the thread wanders onto some extraneous info I want to save, then I give it a title and that leads to mabe two threads with the same info. Rare, but it happens.
I also set up a pic file for photos which have been posted on the forum that would help me with my build. everrthing from routing brake lines to dash layouts. I broke it down into interiors, engine bays, door panels etc. etc.. I have no idea how many I have, but they are nice to have when I am trying to figure out how a certain thing can be done. What it all boils down to is that you have to do a little digging to get what you want. I don't think many of us have a lot of time to do the referencing as Ron stated. It's a learn as you go. If you read much on the forum, you can tell who does most of the posting and which "kit" they are using. Those are the people you need to pick the brains of for what you are looking for. I think the forum is a resource material which has to be worked to get the info. Not like the old days when you had to go to the library and spend countless hours looking up one little piece of info, which you might not find anyway. This is a great convience to the members, and as a forum, it gives you a place you can come and talk about GT40 or ask questions. You may not get all your answers, but then people have other things to do rather than jump on the forum every night waiting to find that question they can contribute to.

Bill