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ryanheacox · 12-13-2019, 08:05 AM

From reading multiple posts on the subject it seems that babbit tends to fail more gradually than inserts. If you hear a babbited engine making noise there is probably time to tighten things up before damage is done to the crank whereas if you hear an inserted engine making noise it is already too late.

My personal experience backs this up. My old engine had failing mains and rods, flaking apart, chunks missing, etc. As bad as it looked and sounded, the crank only needed to be polished before being used in the new engine. I was very happy the rods and mains could be kept at .010 under.

12-13-2019, 08:05 AM	#16
ryanheacox Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Northwest CT Posts: 1,092	Re: Babbit vs Inserts From reading multiple posts on the subject it seems that babbit tends to fail more gradually than inserts. If you hear a babbited engine making noise there is probably time to tighten things up before damage is done to the crank whereas if you hear an inserted engine making noise it is already too late. My personal experience backs this up. My old engine had failing mains and rods, flaking apart, chunks missing, etc. As bad as it looked and sounded, the crank only needed to be polished before being used in the new engine. I was very happy the rods and mains could be kept at .010 under.