LeeMajors19082

I'm in the process of building a F22Bx for boost and I recently ordered a set of Standard ACL bearings (Duraglide) and upon receiving them found out the were manufactured in China!? Now in all my research for my build I've come across numerous threads where people say they "use ACL", "they're good", "they're great", etc...etc... But I never once heard any mention of them being mfgrd in China. Until today.... So apparently it goes something like this: ACL was having business troubles around 2010 and sold a portion of the company to their North American distributor in Michigan. Michigan distributor outsources production of ACL Standard bearing series (Duraglide), and the Alumaglide series to a mfgr in China. The ACL Race series remained exclusively mfgrd in Australia. Then sometime in 2014 ACL even closed THAT manufacturing facility in Australia! But luckily reopened it in June of this year. Yeeaaaaahhh..... wish I would of known that before I placed my order. Lol!

Seriously though, before I try to return them and order some Clevites, I'm just wondering if anyone can vouch for the quality, or lack there of, of ACL's Standard Bearings, post 2010? Like, you actually purchased them after 2010 and they came in the WHITE/blue cartons? (Not in the BLUE/white cartons which are authentic Made in Australia ACL's which would've been produced prior to 2010) If ANYONE has ANY 1st hand knowledge of these, would you please be so kind as to offer me some insight into their quality, reliability, etc...? Are the China made ACL bearings still the ACL's of old? Are they of the same quality? Same materials? Does their Chinese mfgr seem to uphold the same level of QC as the Tasmanian counterpart? Also, this question in no way pertains to the RACE or Alumaglide Series of ACL bearings... just Standard plain-Jane Duraglides. And as always Thx in advance for any and all replies.

Kevinio

I don't know which one we had here. But we had 6 ruined engines cause of the ACL bearings. Putted some OEMs in it and problems were solved. Not only in Honda engines, but also Mitsubishi and Subaru.

boost ben

I like you was surprised when I saw an ACL bearing that said made in China on it. I've been using (past tense now) ACL for years. I bought a box of Duraglides about a year ago that said made in China, I was in a pinch and needed to get the engine finished as we had a race coming up. I measured the bearings and they came out very tight, tighter than usual (for my personal specs that I run on the endurance engines). I polished the crank to get the clearances in my target range and ran the engine. It lasted over 100 race hours, the longest I've ever gone between rebuilds.

I looked for more info on the factory in China and I was not able to find any information like an ISO cert number. Because of this I have made the change to King bearings and, again, have had great luck. Lately I've been using the King Race bearings and they are excellent in terms of tolerances and the slight design changes that King has incorporated.