Assembly lube for aluminum bearings? (Honda DOHC)

[Lumberg]

I am putting a new head and cams on my 81 CB750. I noticed that the bearings are simply solid aluminum with no inserts. What is a good lubricant to coat these with before starting it up?

Also does this have any impact on oil choice?

 

[JohnBrowning]

Everyone has their own assebly sauce that is propritary. Most shops use white littium grease some use moly grease, some use motor oil, some use ATF etc..... I like Redlines assembly lube. It has EP propertys not derrived from solids like moly grease so it will not plug up you filter. The main points that really need EP protection it the cam lopes and followers if they are not roller style.The bearing area can make due just fine with a bath of fresh oil. Do not go over board a thin film is all it takes.

After you run it at 2000 RPM's for 20 minutes drain the old oil out and change oil and filter!

 

[ElectroKen]

Use only engine oil on the cam bearings. Your wet clutch will be exposed to whatever you put there.

It's amazing to me that those aluminum bearing surfaces survive, but Honda has used them now for many decades.

 

[JohnBrowning]

DId not even see that we were talking about a motorcycle! Sorry!!

 

[Lumberg]

no problem JB. I was just going to use engoen oil anyway.

why the 20 min at 2000 RPM? is that safe to do with an air cooled engine in summer?

 

[Smoky14]

The 20/2000 does not apply to Honda engines. It is a BAD idea on most MC engines. I used BG assembly lube for 20yrs on MC engines and had great success with it.

 

[jsharp]

Years back when I worked on motorcycles I used Belray moly based assembly lube on things like cam bearings, and Lubriplate 105 on places like piston skirts where I wanted something thinner. I never had any problems with either one.

I never worried about the moly in the BelRay. You should change out the oil after any rebuild in a few hundred miles anywy...

 

[Blue636]

Bel-Ray "as$ lube".