Crankcase anomaly
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:07 pm
Hey all,
Well as you may or may not be aware I have been having a few issues with my newly acquired minor from new Zealand. Well after some nasty noises started coming from the engine I decided it was probably best to take it out an investigate,
Turned out that I had a very very loose flywheel, by this I mean I unscrewed the nut holding it on by hand so I guess that wasn't done up to the correct torque...anyway as I need to put it back on and lap the flywheel into the taper I needed to take the crank out as I didn't want to risk grinding paste near the lovely white metal rear main. Well you know how one thing turns into another and before I know it I have completely stripped my engine down. I thought it would be a good time to check the big ends as I know they haven't been touched since the 50's....and they are absolutely fine which is a great relief. I also checked my front bearing as I had a great deal of crankshaft end float of around 10 thou. The bearing looks OK but the wrong thrust washers had been used to assemble the engine so these will be changed to correct the end float.
Anyway the point of my post is to ask whether anyone else has bolts through the side of their crankcase, some with pieces of plate behind them (see attached pics), I am not sure what they actually do, or if they were done to correct cracks in the case but they seem too uniform for that..any idea folks..????
Incidently I had no idea that the big ends on the minor were so tiny...those bolts and nuts are very small its amazing they hold up the revs these little engines get to..
Your comments are appreciated
Well as you may or may not be aware I have been having a few issues with my newly acquired minor from new Zealand. Well after some nasty noises started coming from the engine I decided it was probably best to take it out an investigate,
Turned out that I had a very very loose flywheel, by this I mean I unscrewed the nut holding it on by hand so I guess that wasn't done up to the correct torque...anyway as I need to put it back on and lap the flywheel into the taper I needed to take the crank out as I didn't want to risk grinding paste near the lovely white metal rear main. Well you know how one thing turns into another and before I know it I have completely stripped my engine down. I thought it would be a good time to check the big ends as I know they haven't been touched since the 50's....and they are absolutely fine which is a great relief. I also checked my front bearing as I had a great deal of crankshaft end float of around 10 thou. The bearing looks OK but the wrong thrust washers had been used to assemble the engine so these will be changed to correct the end float.
Anyway the point of my post is to ask whether anyone else has bolts through the side of their crankcase, some with pieces of plate behind them (see attached pics), I am not sure what they actually do, or if they were done to correct cracks in the case but they seem too uniform for that..any idea folks..????
Incidently I had no idea that the big ends on the minor were so tiny...those bolts and nuts are very small its amazing they hold up the revs these little engines get to..
Your comments are appreciated