blueosprey90

Breathing new life into a cadaver! .

Of course, I don't know CPR or any other life savings techniques. I've never even tried to bring a cadaver back to life. So be kind and forgive my mistakes. The patient may never revive. But perhaps you will be amused by my efforts.

* * *

I've been racing the '59 MGA, mostly with the VSCCA in Southern New England, since about 2009. A few years ago, Hap Waldrop built me a mild race engine and my summer and winter adventures have been chronicled here on many threads.

Hap had warned me about the weakness of the MGA crankshaft for racing applications, but I stuck with the three main engine due to the sanctioning body rules. Unfortunately, the engine breathed its last in September, 2017 when the crankshaft broke.

Attachment 150209

It could have been worse. At least I didn't have a big hole in the side of the engine block!

But the oil pump was destroyed by the impact of the crankshaft, and the drive gear sheared.

Attachment 150210

The boss on which the oil pump was mounted had corresponding damage.

In addition, the broken crankshaft jammed the #4 piston into the head, bending the rod and damaging the piston.

Attachment 150211

Attachment 150212


I conducted a post mortem in the fall and winter of 2017, and took the block and the camshaft to a machine shop (Carlquist Performance Engines in Watertown, CT) for evaluation and "repair". Both were deemed suitable for reuse.

My biggest decision was to obtain a replacement for the crankshaft. Although I had a spare MGA crank, I decided to proceed with something a little stronger. I had several options, all at about $2,500. Alas, without fully appreciating what I was doing, I opted for a hybrid MGA/MGB ghost main crankshaft by Marine Crankshaft.

A piece of art you might say. But …. let's just say it presents some unusual - and unexpected - issues.

blueosprey90

I suppose that my first uncertainty is whether I should flex hone the bores for cross hatching for ring break in.

The machine shop work sheet contains the following entry that I assume is applicable to the piston bores: "Hone Info: 25, 55, 65, 85".

And the bores look like this:







I have a 3 1/4" 240 grit dingleberry style flex hone that I anticipated using to cross hatch the bores. But I was surprised to see their condition and now wonder whether I should risk messing them up. I suppose my question is whether they already have the required cross hatching that I need to properly break in the rings..

A 2

Chuck S

Did I miss the unusual - and unexpected - issues with the crankshaft?

-- Chuck

blueosprey90

Oh, don't worry, they'll be coming.

Just take a look at the two crankshafts and use your imagination until then.

Chuck S

Great! I wasn't sure I could see any differences in the two cranks in the photo, Don't want to miss an episode. Good to see you can still get parts for the car.

-- Chuck

pgss2k

Looks to me like the bearing surfaces don;t line up?

blueosprey90

They don't - but they do. It has ghost mains. Await further reports.

s2000sccaracer

Jeff, I would just leave the cylinder bores as-is. They look good. Did Carlquist hone them, or is the cross hatch left over from Hap? Carlquist does the machine work for my S2000 and TR3 engines. I've been going there for about 20 years.

blueosprey90

Joe,

Thanks for weighing in. Not left over from Hap. I think Bill Carlquist's son did most of my work. It looks very well done and I am quite pleased. I'll be documenting some of that work as I progress with the rebuild.

My project was nebulous since it started out as "check the block and camshaft for damage" and morphed over 18 months into a bigger project. Initially I planed to use a stock crankshaft. So I didn't expect them to work the bores since I was essentially reusing the same pistons. Basically, I just asked them to check the piston clearances and set the crankshaft and camshaft clearances.

So I hadn't paid any attention to the bores when I picked up the block and planned to hone them with the dingleberry hone before giving the block a final wash. But then I saw what they had done and wondered if I should leave well enough alone. I had used the dingleberry hone on another block last year and remembered it as having a somewhat rougher finish so I wasn't sure.

When I picked up my "project", I spoke to Bill about the S2000 engine and he indicated that he had done some work for you. From reading some of the "Under the Hood" threads, it seems the S2000 engines are not such good candidates for rebuilds. So I wonder if you were satisfied with the work that he did for you. I don't need any work on my S2000 today, but one never knows when I might make some bonehead move on track.