Thin tail crank and wet primary gear

[Tim]

Hi guys, I'm after details on the conversion that was done on early 850 cranks to solve the oil leak problem. As I understand it the hole in the crank that delivers oil to the primary gear is plugged and bushes that can run dry (Deva or something similar) are fitted inside the primary gear. Is that all that is required? Are the bushes available anywhere, or would I be looking at having them made up?

I'm well aware that I could swap to a later crank, diaphragm clutch etc, and I may well end up doing that, but I'm trying to keep things as original as possible so I'd prefer to try the period fix first.

cheers
Tim

[mk1]

If you look through the "BMC Service Memoranda" documents here;

http://mk1-performance-conversions.co.u ... y_docs.htm

You will find the full SP on this modification.

It may take some finding, but it's definitely there.

M

[Tim]

Hi Mark, no luck I'm afraid. I read through all the service memoranda but only found stuff about improved seals and jamming bits of rubber in the end of the crankshaft. I was hoping to find some details about converting to deva bushes and plugging the oil feed hole in the crank. They make interesting reading though!

All of those service bulletins seem to date from 1959-1961. They were still using the wet primary gear in 1962 so I'd expect they wouldn't have issued a service memo until around the same time that the fixed the problem in production.

Never mind, I'll keep asking around.

cheers
Tim

[ace01]

On my crank I used a small piece of welding rod to block the oil hole and then used a deva bush primary gear from a later car. As the original wet primary gear was a bit longer (about 1/4 inch) I needed to get a small spacer made up that fits next to the original spacer and C washer. I then used a different flywheel and diaphram clutch, but that's not relevant here.