king engine bearingh/p vs clevite hp bearings

[SLPRACINGENGINES]

thought this would be a interesting ..ok all the engine builders ..lets hear everyones opion .likes dislike of both.myself i have went to using the king hp bearing..seem like there quiality control is alot better..price is dam sure better..lets hear eveyone input on this..

[avengerengines]

I use both. Clevite is usually tight and I have to use an x bearing. From what I've seen, King has more clearance.

[nhrastocker]

1. ACL Race Series
2. King
3. Clevite

[KnightEngines]

1. ACL Race Series
2. King
3. Clevite

+1

[SupStk]

Guess I'm still old school. Had some issues with King bearings when they first come out. During the time I was using them I'd freshen engines that previously wasn't having bearing trouble and the Kings looked like crap with their flaking ect. During that time never seen a King bearing where I'd look at it and think, "Wow this bearing looks like new, I could use it over if I wanted!" Went back to Clevite and FM and never dabbled with Kings after that.

[BILL-C]

While doing some failure analysis work for a small oil company about a dozen years ago, I learned a lot about the thermal characteristics of the different brands of bearings commonly used in domestic race engines. The shell thickness and resulting oil clearance changes with oil temp. Some brands change ALOT more than others. King bearings have more aluminum in their construction than most others and get real fat when hot. They work great in aluminum rod and block applications and not so good in steel rod and iron block apps unless you build in a little extra cold clearance than "normal".

[BowtieNut]

While doing some failure analysis work for a small oil company about a dozen years ago, I learned a lot about the thermal characteristics of the different brands of bearings commonly used in domestic race engines. The shell thickness and resulting oil clearance changes with oil temp. Some brands change ALOT more than others. King bearings have more aluminum in their construction than most others and get real fat when hot. They work great in aluminum rod and block applications and not so good in steel rod and iron block apps unless you build in a little extra cold clearance than "normal".

I can believe that. I just went into a big block Chevy with steel rods and bearing clearance was .0035. on king HP Bearings and they looked like crap. All things being the same I typically see acl race series bearing in good enough shape I wouldn't hesitate to reuse them. Acl has proven to be a real nice bearing for me.

[340king]

The only issue with the ACL line is their short coverage in their performance variety. I would run them if they made a bearing for my application. I have used King, Clevite and some Vandervell in days past. I never have really had a bearing issue that I couldn't track to another source.

[ProPower engines]

From the tech dept at King they call their HP bearing a Bi-Metal bearings. Unlike Clevite FM ACL bearings. Their standard bearing is an aluminum bearings or A series.
One of my suppliers started to stock some common numbers for GM and Ford in both std. and HP designs.
While their numbering is going to take a bit to get used to I recently got some and the sizing was OK but the ability to stay put in the rod sucked and I tried a couple more sets and same deal. the A series bearings I find fit very snug in place in the block or rods.
I have good luck with their A series bearings but not so much with the HP line
JMO

[SLPRACINGENGINES]

wow..two of the rply have hit right on the money with someof the things im exp..the king h/p rod bearing for some reason dont fit the rods real good.there mains i have exp any problem with..now to clevite.i guess sometime im alittle to anal about measurements.clevite shells mike all over the place.there true roundsness is garabage of late.i know a bearing does change some form in the rod cap..but when your checking them there all over the place..kind of scary when your putting a product on the track with your name on it.i have recently tried a set of the king xp bearings..this is there tri metal bearing.i was very pleased with measurement..thes our in my own racing motor..i try never to use new stuff in customers engines.i guess time will tell.i did have to play around with bearing halfs and do some crank polishing to get the clearances i wanted.but hey i can live with that..thanks to everyone who responsed.love this forum ..there are a ton of very knowledge people on here!!!!!!!!!

[Kaotic]

ACL good product, but has closed their doors, went out of business last year

[ProPower engines]

wow..two of the rply have hit right on the money with someof the things im exp..the king h/p rod bearing for some reason dont fit the rods real good.there mains i have exp any problem with..now to clevite.i guess sometime im alittle to [Blank Post] about measurements.clevite shells mike all over the place.there true roundsness is garabage of late.i know a bearing does change some form in the rod cap..but when your checking them there all over the place..kind of scary when your putting a product on the track with your name on it.i have recently tried a set of the king xp bearings..this is there tri metal bearing.i was very pleased with measurement..thes our in my own racing motor..i try never to use new stuff in customers engines.i guess time will tell.i did have to play around with bearing halfs and do some crank polishing to get the clearances i wanted.but hey i can live with that..thanks to everyone who responsed.love this forum ..there are a ton of very knowledge people on here!!!!!!!!!

I guess I got the janitor when I called regarding the XP bearing make up and materials used in it.They since ( today ) still said that the XP bearing is Bi-Metal. I am either getting my chain jerked or there is the need for someone with more product knowledge on the tech line.

Maybe they will chime in and straighten out the confusion.

I also agree that Clevite's QC is in the crapper as well with bearings that don't measure up as expected. I got a set of +.001 1shelles today that had the engraved markings scratched over and a black ink stamp used to mark the sizes on the shell's.

They were 1/2 way between the two for sizing

[wil8115]

HP are Bi, XP are Tri. it's on the website at the bottom.
http://kingbearings.com/performance.php

[Alan Roehrich]

I'm using the King HP series, coated by H.M. Elliott.

[hondo383]

use quite a few of the hp and xp bearings, no issues with either(never had any clevite or acl issues either for that matter)
I find the std HP series on the tight/thick side even for street engines, so I just start with x's.
the XP series is usually more generous on clearance, have used in roadrace~ 500 hp/ turbo drag use ~900 hp no probs!
availability and price is better to me than clevite lately.

I do find the HP ones frquently come with aluminum chips stuck in the BACK of the bearing shell which need a light scuff usually to clean up... no big deal just more work lol.