Dave,
A diplomatic answer, so your not a fan of the Vandervell bearings in the K application? I chatted with Dave Walker on this subject some months ago he was amazed that anyone was still using this old hat technology. He told me that these shells were first designed for use in the Vanwall F1 racing car in 50`s and designed to get the car to the end of the race if some surface bearing wear had taken place. I don`t know how much truth there is in the last statement but its a nice story.
I find them very difficult to work with from an assembly point of view, as you say a dummy build on the bench is about the only way to check them, you cannot mic the surface without damage, you cannot touch the surface without damage splitting new big end caps on steel rods that are dowelled is always a difficult nervracking job. Assembly needs to be carried out in near surgical conditions.
Rob
Edited by - Rob Walker on 31 Oct 2006 09:58:23