A very nice feature of the resin (plastic?) roller retainer cage, is that it makes the task of setting the crankshaft end float very easy.
This is because the rollers can be popped out from the retaining cage one by one, leaving the inner bearing race on the crankshaft. In the next step, a standard split bearing puller can be placed around the inner race, and it can be pulled off easily, without any damage.
Finally, the bearing can be re-assembled by putting the cage back in position, and popping the rollers back in place.
I have just set up an A10 bottom end this week, using the SRM bearing;a sometimes difficult task has never been easier!
I also had the crankcase halves set up in a lathe for the line boring of the bronze outer / white metal inner timing bush, (after making a supporting fixture from an aluminium bellhousing) and am rapt in the final result; bottom end is perfectly aligned and spins like a top, with 0.0015 " clearance between journal and bush.
Other point of note is that I could measure a bit of ovality in the bore for the bushing, in RH crankcase half. I checked the bore because the old bush would slide in from one side, but had an interference fit on the other.
I asked the machinist to bore out the crankcase half, until it cleaned up; it took 0.012" to clean up (concentricity!).
In the future I will adopt this practice always, as clearly ovality is likely to be an issue in old crank case halves.
I then machined up a timing bush from phosphor bronze (had a billet lying around) and sized it to give 0.002" interference on the crankcase. Then I poured babbit (white) metal on the inside, left a couple of mm undersize on the bore, and shrunk into the crankcase.
The bronze is a better choice than steel, because the co-efficents of expansion are much closer between aluminium and bronze, than for Al and mild steel.
Therefore, it is more likely to maintain an intereference fit (and consequently maximum oil pressure!) when the engine is hot.
By machining in the lathe, we were able to clock perfectly on the primary drive bearing recess, then bolt up the RH half, and machine the timing bush in line.
Richard