Con rod query

[Tony Betts]

CHISIT as they say in leicestershire.

As in how much is it 

£240 the last time I looked.

But be wear, most places will NOT clean, or check rods for straightness  etc before metaling them.

And if I'm honest some places are better than others at doing the job.

Tony.

[Zetomagneto]

Drilling rods.
                     Terry.

Hi Terry, thanks for the photo, are these Saenz or Hadley, obviously not Phoenix.
I see you are drilling without the shell in, presumably you drill the shell after?
and are you drilling both sides? This is presumably to encourage flow through a splash fed bearing .
Best Wishes Gene

[Terrytuned]

Drilled for splash both sides deburr fit shells redrill deburr and light countersink, they are John Barlow rods. Terry.

[Colin Wilks]

Drilled for splash both sides deburr fit shells redrill deburr and light countersink, they are John Barlow rods.    Terry.

Hi Terry,

Is there any downside to using shells compared to white metal in my sports splash fed engine? I intend boring the oil pump +.020" and fitting new springs, but otherwise the oil pump will be standard. The crank is John Barlow.
Grateful for your advice on this.
Colin

[Terrytuned]

Colin did a sports engine for a friend in Devon 10yrs ago does a few hillclimbs every year and runs around Devon country lanes still runs fine.
It has Phoenix 1 1/2" crank and rods Honda pistons, PB fast road cam, external oil filter, 2mm reducers in cam bushes drilled jets, oversize
oil pump, semi deep alloy sump. Give the rods 10thou side clearance, make sure the oil jets into the crankshaft and I always fit a steel lip
plate, and a lightened flywheel gives a lively engine. I have used John Barlow cranks and rods both splash pressure.
Terry.

[Alan]

The only thing you need to be a bit careful of is not to put the engine under too much load until the oil warms up. Otherwise shells are fine.

[Colin Wilks]

Thanks both.
I shall be getting the crank and flywheel balanced so may well ask them to lighten the flywheel at the same time.

As an aside, I was talking to a "posh" classic car dealer last week and I asked him the question "If I offered you my Type 65 with its original engine, would you prefer this on a pallet, entirely unaltered, or in usable form in the car?" He replied he'd like to see it on a pallet.
I think this is symptomatic of what's going wrong with classics - the idea that you keep a precious artefact but don't use it seems very sad to me, although probably financially sensible. 
I am hoping my plan will give me the best of both worlds - a usable original engine that is hopefully unlikely to destroy itself, but retaining the original crank, rods and camshaft gear on the shelf so that my children can give the market what it wants when I'm dead (always assuming we're still allowed to drive cars with petrol engines in years to come).

[Terrytuned]

Colin machining out the pressure plate to the inside dia: of the clutch lining removes an extra 8oz. on 3or4spd clutch assy.   Terry.

[Colin Wilks]

Colin machining out the pressure plate to the inside dia: of the clutch lining removes an extra 8oz. on 3or4spd clutch assy.   Terry.

Thanks for that Terry. I am tempted to commission Charles P, but I doubt I could afford him.

[Stuart Giles]

When I spoke to Formhalls last year they wanted £425 per bearing for white metalling, I'd like to think there might be cheaper options.

They quoted me £1200 + VAT to re-metal and line bore 3 main bearings (not A7 obviously) at the Beaulieu Autojumble in September. Needless to say, this job is booked in elsewhere for about a third of that price. I suppose Formhalls don't need to do too many jobs at their prices.