Milwaukee Midget

[floydjer]

I`m happy Slim made it  work.....Makes me look less goofy

[Milwaukee Midget]

Okay, the 1275 is out.  Dummied up the blowblanket and sent off a post for approval to the powers that be.
 




And I made the big-buck commitment this week.  Down payment sent on a 2.45” stroke billet crankshaft.  I was told I’d see it in May.  My experience tells me I’ll be screwing this engine together about a week before I head to the salt, but it’s a new year, I still have faith in my fellow man, and I can’t find anyone who will get one to me any faster.
 
Experience also tells me that if I were to wait any longer, it probably won’t happen in 2011.

I need to confirm that I can do a .030 overbore on the new block.  As soon as my reinforced center main comes in, the block will be at C&S for bore and alignment hone.  If not, I’ll be tearing apart the existing short block.

Just enough down time to read Keith Richards’ biography, "Life", thoughtfully procured for me by Kate this Christmas.

“and I got a woman who knows her man, drive on”*
*Johnny Cash

[desotoman]

Captain C,

The Deist Blankets look good. Who did you end up ordering the crank from?

Tom G.

[Dr Goggles]

I made the big-buck commitment this week.  Down payment sent on a 2.45” stroke billet crankshaft.
Just enough down time to read Keith Richards’ biography, "Life", thoughtfully procured for me by Kate this Christmas.

Hey big spender, congratulations.....send the machine shop flowers every week......that'll guarantee you get the crank ontime, or even early!

[Milwaukee Midget]

That would be Rody Machining in Plymouth, MI.  He does overflow work for Moldex, and I received two unsolicited recommendations for him by both an engine builder in Waukesha, and an SCCA Spridget racer in Michigan.  Easy to talk to, knows the A-block.

It's an 8 week process, regardless of who you talk to, and he encouraged me to get in line - racing season is right around the corner.


As long as I waited for my wheels, flywheel, cage, etc., I figured I'd better strike.  We'll see how it goes.

I made the big-buck commitment this week.  Down payment sent on a 2.45” stroke billet crankshaft.
Just enough down time to read Keith Richards’ biography, "Life", thoughtfully procured for me by Kate this Christmas.

Hey big spender, congratulations.....send the machine shop flowers every week......that'll guarantee you get the crank ontime, or even early!

Yeah, never met a machinist who didn't sit around with baited breath waiting for the FTD guy to show up. Machinists love flowers.

 

You been hitting the egg nog?

[116ciHemi]

The machinists I know would prefer beer over flowers.  Always. That includes the female machinists I know.

[Rick Byrnes]

I have more than a little experience with Rody dating back about 20 years.
Greg has repaired a couple of my early billet 3.4" stroke fully counterweighted "Pinto" engine cranks from the turbo engine.

He also machined from scratch my supposed "trick" crank designed by one of my Ford analytical buddies.  He even suggested some oiling mods that the OEM guy didn't see because he was not a racer, just a really good designer that could balance all the compromises.  I ended up with much less load on the center main while running up to 9500 rpm under load.

His work is impeccable.
Cost was comparable to anywhere else, and the part turned out exactly as I wanted.
Well worth the investment in time and money.

Greg had a good relationship with Whitey at Moldex and machines virtually all the "blanks" that Moldex finishes.  When visiting his shop, you can feel the ground shake from the rough cuts being done on the billet blank.  

Nobody else touches my Crank.

:-d

OH, and he likes beer!

 
 

[Milwaukee Midget]

Rick, thanks for the further endorsement.  Sometimes you just have to go for it, and now with 3 endorsements, I'm convinced I found the right guy.

I won't discuss price - Different cranks require different requirements, and I don't want to speak for Greg, (different strokes, different folks?) but I will say that his price was the best of those I questioned.  In fact, compared to a world renowned MG prep shop in California, with factory ties dating back to the 1960's, Greg's price was about 25% less.

And Walt, as usual, you are wise beyond your years.  In fact, if we extrapolate on your hypothesis, I think we can now refer to this addage as "Walter's Law" . . .

"Never deal with a machinist who expects flowers, and never date a girl who won't drink beer."

[Milwaukee Midget]

Hey big spender, congratulations.....send the machine shop flowers every week......that'll guarantee you get the crank ontime, or even early!

Again, slow to the uptake on this one.

Remind me to never play poker with the Aussies.

If I send him flowers, he'll go faster, because he thinks I'm, . . .

well, you know . . .

British?

[Dr Goggles]

Again, slow to the uptake on this one.
Remind me to never play poker with the Aussies.
If I send him flowers, he'll go faster, because he thinks I'm, . . .
well, you know . . .
British?

We have a winner

There's NOTHING like a bunch of flowers to make people ask questions,

I wasn't suggesting you sent him vouchers for a free chap-dance

Did you ever hear anything from the guy who was going to make the scattershield?...maybe he was expecting flowers.....
.

You been hitting the egg nog?

And no, didn't do egg-nogg but ran a long race in fuel class on the day and saw off two nephews in the last few laps with Jamesons.

Backed-up at the usual Hot-rodders boxing day bash with our good friends Prof and Wiggsie....

[Milwaukee Midget]

Happy New Year, y'all. 

Need to grab a few parts off of the 1275 to move forward on the 970.  Pulled the tranny, distributor and starter-of-ill-repute off of the 1275 short block.

The flywheel was a tight fit, tied to the crank with bolts.  That’s not an issue putting it on.  It becomes one when you need to take it off.  I don’t have a puller big enough to do it the right way, but I had a similar situation a number of years ago trying to remove an aluminum clutch arm off of a steel shaft in my Rampage.  I called my dad, who worked with a metallurgist at Rockwell back in the day.  He said just chuck it in the oven and it will slide right off, which it did.  Small parts in the oven of a bachelor's efficiency apartment on the east side - hey, no problem.

Well, Kate's been pretty understanding on a lot of this LSR stuff, but I wasn't about to press my luck by trying to stuff a whole A-block into the KitchenAid.  I needed an even heat over a large area, and that’s when it occurred to me that I’ve got a kerosene space heater.



That lined up nice, and with the help of a couple of homemade door stops . . .



A gentle tap on the right, followed by a gentle tap on the left, and BINGO . . .



Crank pins came in this week, and MG John in South Carolina shipped my machined and strapped center main this week.  Kind of productive for a holiday week.

Keeping Willie and Sheri in my prayers – Courage.

[Milwaukee Midget]

Sometimes the old trick is just too good to pass up.  MG John came through with my center strap for the center main cap.  I first saw this trick on a 3 main MGA a number of years ago, and it is de rigueur for most high performance A-blocks.  Won’t quite clear in the Mini, but there’s plenty of room in the Spridget sump.



It’s hardly rocket science.  Machine the cap dead flat, install the strap, get yourself some longer bolts, and stabilize your bottom end.  Fret not – ARP studs will be making their appearance when the crank arrives.



Keeping Willie and Sheri in my prayers – Courage.

[38flattie]

Sometimes the old trick is just too good to pass up.  MG John came through with my center strap for the center main cap.  I first saw this trick on a 3 main MGA a number of years ago, and it is de rigueur for most high performance A-blocks.  Won’t quite clear in the Mini, but there’s plenty of room in the Spridget sump.



It’s hardly rocket science.  Machine the cap dead flat, install the strap, get yourself some longer bolts, and stabilize your bottom end.  Fret not – ARP studs will be making their appearance when the crank arrives.



Keeping Willie and Sheri in my prayers – Courage.

Can you expain the benifit here? Is it smply to add rigidity to the arch of the cap?

We have a crank girdle, that attaches much the same way as your strap, then also attackes to the block, where the oil pan normally attaches.

I'm very curious about the benifits, of a strap only on the center main!

The build is coming along very nicely!

[Milwaukee Midget]

You know, with the shorter stroke, and lighter pistons, crank and rods, this is probably overkill.

Most of it is that there's simply no good way of strapping the other two, save making a whole new sump, rear seal arrangement and front bearing.   
 
But of the three, the center cap is the weakest.  There's less material than either of the two ends, so you spread out the clamping pressure with a piece of 4140 over the entire bottom of the bearing, rather than just two holes in a casting.

I've never seen a racing Spridget bottom end without one (or a 4-bolt), so I'm just carrying this over as a "best practice", ie: de rigueur.   

[38flattie]

Haha-I got the "best practice", ie: de rigueur part, but just wondered what the theory was behind it.

I appreciate the info- I've seen/used girdles, but hadn't seen this trick.

Cool build!