This has been my experience too, especially the black ball bearings. If you run them much more than qualifiers and one main with out replacing , you are asking for trouble.

Been using Acer ceramic bearings in my electric/nitro cars with zero failures. Gonna get some for my engine and try em.

You have to get more-or-less "engine specific" bearings. I dont know why, but maybe they are made differently to general-use bearings?? They have clutch specific bearings e.g: 5x10 bearings - they have 5x10 clutch bearings and 'normal' bearings.

EDIT: Oh, I also got a ceramic rear bearing through Acer for a TRX 3.3 I have, it wasn't an "engine" bearing, but it did very well and never had any issues with it, just removed the shields on it and installed it. Im sure it would be fine to get it and put it in your engine. Just keep an eye on it from time to time.

DJ, shouldn't you be at the Lillydale track right now practising for the big race this weekend, instead of being here on the forums and crapping on all the time???

He shouldnt need any practise with all his knowledge he just turns up for the last round of qualifying and TQ's and wins .

This should be how it works with all the crap he posts !!!!

I would be practising, but I know it's not gonna help me be any faster.
And what's with all the crapping on me? I mean cmon, seriously???
What am I saying that is soo wrong?? Just because I know a few things, get a few wrong, all of a sudden it's like I'm saying "I'm a fantastic driver, I don't need any help from anyone, I'm just pro."
Well?? Jeez, it's like being back in school with all the nobs picking on others because they have nothing to do.
Seriously, I'll be breaking hands if this keeps going on.
Not happy.

i think most are just takin the piss DJ, but the problem lies, is an engine bearing is different to normal bearing, and to suggest the use of a normal ceramic bearing in ones $7-800 engine to have it explode, is not a good one.
novarossi make ceramic bearings, and there is a way to put them in, why ? it is due to the bearing being offset. so you must use the correct bearing for your application. and i just read your other post, about you.
it gets to some people when info is handed out with out thinking about what you just said. take bearings for instance, i would not use nor say to someone else to run a normal bearing. load rating, RPM range is the material it is intended for, once a bearing looses its hardness, you will see destruction with in seconds down a straight. secondly, about engine modding, you refer to the best (murnan) then offer to do it for free, what are you trying to say ? thats what i think is more the point. personally i would only post to help some one, when you 100% know you can, or you are offering the right information. some people know more than yourself, myself, and even the best keep learning. and a motor is a high end , not a baseline truck engine. an out of the box Nova will be more powerfull than a traxas 3.3, so when you tinker with those, its easy to get power. not so with a motor out of the box of late from some of the more reputable brands, Nova, RB, Max etc. i only say this is you relate to the 3.3 alot that you have played with. i have helped many people on this forum, and i have also recieved alot of help, but its been behind closed doors, PM is the best way, then you dont suffer so much with the fighting. just some food for thaught. and yeah the Vics are on, you should be tearing your car down everynight, checking bearings, checking your engines, reset your droops and cambers, and charging batteries.

Hahaha, yeah, well I did give it a tear down recently and cleaned all the bearings, greased them up and whatnot, Im not there to be the next world champ but to go there for the experience and to learn what it's like at a race such as State Titles.
Thanks for the help, Ill try and be a little smarter on posts - I saw where I said a ceramic needs no lubrication!! Face-palm right there!!

as long as you learn by mistakes, you are moving forward. its easy to pick out the wrongs, but some people cant make the good things stand out either. thats why i PM, but even then you can get into problems.

Thanks man! Hopefully - like it says in my sig - Ill get to the BIG races
Do you still race on-road?
Hahaha I should be asleep now! Ill reply tomorrow morning!! ...hopefully.

Not the offset, in the past we had bearings without offset and the engines were still running fine and I do believe some 3rd party bearings do not have an offset. Ofcourse the offset does give a better support of the forces comming from the rod.
No, with bearings you have to take a look at the edge of the inner ring of the bearing, one side has a larger angled edge which has to face to the rear of the engine so the crankshaft will fit fully into the bearing. If you do turn the bearing otherwise the crankshaft will not fit fully into the bearing and when mounting the flywheel all will be locked up. And the large rounded edge on the crankshaft is pure for the strength, if it is sharp it will snap.....
And about crankshafts.... there are people here saying that the 14.5mm crankshaft is an evolution over the 14mm while simple physics does say there is a disadvantage and still I dan not convince people about it.

But hey, I do know what DJ feels, I did (sometimes still do) face the same problem too. If you are no Murnan, Clockwork, Sam, RCrenew etc then you are no serious person while all of them were in a same position when they have started.
I have learned a lot since involved with the devellopment of an engine and the experiments on many others and I do have some technical sight on things, without that you will never learn how easy some things are.....

Really! No sh!t Sherlock.

Acer's bearings are absolute quality, and guess what? They make actual, yes actual engine bearings!. Wow. It's not like they don't know a thing or two about RC now is it?

WOWOMG! I didnt know that!!

Is any aftermarket bearings for NovaRossi 353 ?
The size is very unusual 11.9x21.4x5.3mm and 7x18x5.3mm
The original front bearing give up after 1.5 gal so I'm looking for some other alternatives

Boca, TKO, ACER, ABEC35... all RC bearing manufacturers making engine bearings.