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MG TD TF 1500 - xpag crankshaft to weld up or ?

Good day Gentleman, I could make very good use of a crank not more then 020 under . I do have a crank that is heavy pitted from rust and a lot of guy's here try to convince me that welding the journals up to standard is OK ( to them ) I am afraid to do so , but that is also due to my lack of experience with that process. Secondly : I have looked at a shop who say they can do it but when looked a bit better at their outfit I thought I better turn around quickly.

I love to hear / read your guy's views on the subject. Or if you have a non cracked crank ready for grinding to 020 under please let me know. Yep the shortest way is to buy a new Moldex at around 2200 but my CFO could not agree at this moment.

Thanks for your time,

Gerard
Gerard Hengeveld

As a Welding Engineer, I wouldn't advocate welding up that cast iron crank. There are outfits that will flame spray or plasma spray the journals, but you may invest as much in your old iron crank which might break anyway, as you would buying a Moldex (I did). That's a good insurance policy, anyway.
Machine shops would most likely grind just it down to sound journals and go for undersized bearings.
JRN JIM

Hi Gerard,
The crank that is in my TD now is the original crank. In 54 or 55 I ran a bearing at a speed event, and had to have the shaft turn to 20 under. In 1963, with 50 thousand miles on it, I rebuilt the engine and found a machine shop in Calgary that specialized in working on cranks. I took the crank in and they said they could build the journals back up to standard and chrome plate the surface of the journals. Except for a change of heads, the engine is still in the car and it still gets 50 lbs oil pressure when hot. That little engine took me down to the MG meeting in Reno Nevada in 2011 at speeds of 65 to 75 mph and sang all the way. About 8 years ago, I had a second crank done at the same place. They rebuilt the journals back up to standard and chrome plated the journal surface. This is for a second engine I'm putting together.

If the shop you are working with has the experience and ability to do the work, I can only say that the procedure has worked for me. To be clear, I am talking about building up the journals, and not welding a crack in the crank shaft. I made sure that both of my cranks were sound, before proceeding with this job. This has been my experience, and I wish you good luck with yours.

George
George Raham [TD4224]

Thanks for the comments gentleman

Gerard
Gerard Hengeveld

Not including the current Phoenix T-Seriies crank, there have been 3 factory cranks over the years.

All TB,TCs, TDs and early TFs had nodular iron cast cranks. These were brittle and subject to breakage. In about 1960, the factory switched to cast steel cranks in a mild steel (I have the specs but don't know where to find them). And lastly in the early 70s the factory switched to a contract supplier, who cast the steel cranks of a better steel.

In those days, and new crank cost between $150 and $400.

When the BMC inventories ran out, they contracted Pheonix in the Uk to supply. As a result, the quality of the new cranks is a significant step up and cost in the vicinity of $3,000. The Phoenix cranks are steel crankshafts machined from a solid billet. The material used is EN40B'T' (722M24 ), balanced and nitrided.

Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.
Gordon A Clark

There's a reground 10/10 on ebay right now. Not cheap but available.
Vincent Piña

321490201656

Or this one.

Vincent Piña

With all the trouble it takes to pull the engine down to change the crank and thinking what could happen to the block if the crank broke, If my crank was questionable, I would go for the billet crank and hang the cost. JMHO. PJ
Paul S Jennings

This thread was discussed between 13/08/2014 and 15/08/2014

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