- Joined
- Dec 25, 2011
- Messages
- 10,516
The point that I was trying to make was that not all bronze bushings sold by any hardware are going to be sintered bronze. I added the word "brass" because most people can't tell the difference and many bushings are actually made of brass, although relatively few of them are sintered. If you take a solid bronze bushing (many are used in marine applications) and soak it in oil you'll just get an oily bushing until you wipe it off.
You were, however, correct that Oilite was a Chrysler division or department. However, the bushings weren't developed soley for water pumps. Of the six typically found in a last century automobile engine, only one is in the water pump. And I said nothing about Atlas or Clausing having anything to do with inventing the sintered bronze bushing. They didn't invent it and didn't invent Zamak.
On another subject, resizing the bore, you have to be careful how you do that. The worst way to do it is by grinding (or honing). Grinding will smear the ID surface and close off most of the pores. According to the bushing manufacturers, the best way is with a VERY sharp single point tool. They say further that reaming may work but only if the reamer is extremely sharp. My take is that if you needed two little bushings, you're better off paying a little more for ones that are the right size to begin with. I have better things to do than spending four hours saving four dollars on two bushings.
Plus as was hinted at just below, the fact of the matter is that we all have a vested interest in keeping Clausing interested enough to keep supplying parts for our old Atlas machines. The parts that we could buy somewhere else more cheaply and modify to make sorta fit wouldn't cost us much more if we bought them from Clausing. The ones that can't be bought cheap and modified will eventually shut down every one of our machines or leave us with the only options of paying top dollar on eBay for a used part or buying another machine and hoping that that part is still good in it if Clausing finally says the Hell with it and shuts down their old parts department. I went through the same problems caused by the same shortsighted attitudes in the 1970's and 1980's with Land Rover parts in the US. The only thing that would have kept me going if the two US independent vendors had shut down was that I sometimes had to go to England on business. That wouldn't be an option with Atlas parts as they aren't being made anywhere else.
Robert D.
You were, however, correct that Oilite was a Chrysler division or department. However, the bushings weren't developed soley for water pumps. Of the six typically found in a last century automobile engine, only one is in the water pump. And I said nothing about Atlas or Clausing having anything to do with inventing the sintered bronze bushing. They didn't invent it and didn't invent Zamak.
On another subject, resizing the bore, you have to be careful how you do that. The worst way to do it is by grinding (or honing). Grinding will smear the ID surface and close off most of the pores. According to the bushing manufacturers, the best way is with a VERY sharp single point tool. They say further that reaming may work but only if the reamer is extremely sharp. My take is that if you needed two little bushings, you're better off paying a little more for ones that are the right size to begin with. I have better things to do than spending four hours saving four dollars on two bushings.
Plus as was hinted at just below, the fact of the matter is that we all have a vested interest in keeping Clausing interested enough to keep supplying parts for our old Atlas machines. The parts that we could buy somewhere else more cheaply and modify to make sorta fit wouldn't cost us much more if we bought them from Clausing. The ones that can't be bought cheap and modified will eventually shut down every one of our machines or leave us with the only options of paying top dollar on eBay for a used part or buying another machine and hoping that that part is still good in it if Clausing finally says the Hell with it and shuts down their old parts department. I went through the same problems caused by the same shortsighted attitudes in the 1970's and 1980's with Land Rover parts in the US. The only thing that would have kept me going if the two US independent vendors had shut down was that I sometimes had to go to England on business. That wouldn't be an option with Atlas parts as they aren't being made anywhere else.
Robert D.
