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Introduction of the new Gold Performance Engine Bearings gives KING Engine Bearings, Inc. three complete race bearing families to meet almost any performance engine-building challenge.
Gold Performance main and connecting rod bearings were first unveiled at the Performance Racing Industry Show, December 10-12, 2009. They join KING’s existing Xtreme Performance and Pro Series as high performance bearings for street, strip, circle track racing and more.
“Each of these three bearing families is ‘best’,” explains Michael James, spokesman for KING Engine Bearings, Inc. “Each design has its own strengths and specific uses, to help race engine builders do two things: solve problems with their existing performance bearings, and do more creative things with an engine that weren’t previously possible.”
“While none of our KING bearings will add horsepower or torque by themselves, they will let engine builders extend their engines’ performance envelopes, because the bearings will not fail where others do,” he concludes.
James characterized the differences between the three bearing families as follows:
GOLD PERFORMANCE race engine bearings, which represent a true technological breakthrough, use a trimetal construction, but feature a new non-Babbitt overlay of a proprietary particulate metal matrix composite material in place of traditional Babbitt. The new .0005” overlay can withstand nearly double the pressure of other trimetal race bearings, up to a remarkable 18,000 psi, and withstand 50 percent higher operating temperatures than competitors’ bearings — as high as 540 deg. F.
KING experts say Gold Performance bearings are designed for high load/long duration situations where the existing bearings are failing due to fretting, cracking, overheating, overlay migration or extrusion. Their extraordinary performance capabilities make them ideal for circle track racing, off-road competition, offshore boat racing and some top classes in drag racing; they are intended for use with forged steel crankshafts only. In the engine, the bearings polish to a gold color from use without any removal of material or change in oil clearance.
XTREME PERFORMANCE bearings are trimetal with a high performance .0005” Babbitt overlay good for up to 10,000 psi, as much as 30 percent greater than conventional OE and bimetal bearings, and in operating temperatures up to 350 deg. F. They feature KING’s “Securebond” enhanced adhesion manufacturing process to further strengthen the trimetal platform. They are recommended for forged steel aftermarket crankshafts and are excellent for circle track, off-road and marine racing.
PRO SERIES bearings by KING have a classic bimetal construction with a .013” top layer of tin/silicon/copper in an aluminum matrix. This top layer boasts a Vickers hardness rating of 40, far higher than the 15-20 hardness of traditional soft Babbitt overlays and good for up to 8,000 psi. The key features in Pro Series bearings are better embedability of macro-particles (those greater than .00025”) and 30 percent higher melting temperature than trimetal performance bearings (450 deg. F.).
Pro Series bearings are recommended for street/strip and circle track racing applications where nodular cast iron crankshafts are used, and for drag racing where a harder-than-Babbitt top layer material is required to withstand short duration extra-high loads.
“These three bearing families, with their significant and unique performance advantages over other race bearings, reinforce KING’s leadership in race engine bearing technology and design,” asserts Michael James.
Tags: BEARINGS, King, Race, street performance
