mk1-forum.net

Guru: If only I could fit that one in to this

JanWulf wrote:

Vegard wrote:Interesting:

http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=68263

From here

Still think it worked well in the lab, but if a tooth goes in the gearbox, it will fall to pieces, unlike a good ol' EN40b crank, made of near granite.

New is not always good.

Looks snake oil salesman to me, as I said the other day, that got, ahem, ignored.

V-4 Ford balance bar?

vegar wrote:Guru: If only I could fit that one in to this

what head is that???

I believe that is a Fiat 'Fire' engine?

EDIT

I am wrong, what is a 'Lady Cup Engine'

Looks snake oil salesman to me, as I said the other day,

that got, ahem, ignored.

Probably because people don't agree with you. I reckon that this crank will cure a lot of the ills that have always befalen Big power A series engines, it's just a shame I wouldn't be able to afford one.

graham in aus wrote:I believe that is a Fiat 'Fire' engine?

EDIT

I am wrong, what is a 'Lady Cup Engine'

"Lady Cup" was a onemake racing serie for girls only in Sweden. In the beginning of 80thies they used Autobianchi A112 Abarths (I think they used Minies before that, and Corsas after the A112s). The rules was very strict and very little exept blueprinting, head work and cam regrinding was done. My racecar is one of the orginal cars, and the engine is the one wich won the last season they used A112.
The engine itself is a 1050ccm pusrod engine with 70 hp out of the box. Most "Lady Cups" had about 85-90 hp. I am rebuilding my engine for next season with a 8-port head, motorcycle carbs and KMS digital ignition

btw, some of my competitiors in Coppa Mille Tre Cento has 1108 and 1242 Fiat FIRE engines in their A112's

.
http://www.facebook.com/photo_search.ph ... 8&view=all

I never forgive those girls for the switch to that Italian copycat.

Tulka

Amazing pics

Hey, thanks guys, I'm so glad I asked about the 'Lady Cup' !

Great pictures of 'simpler' times, thanks for sharing!

Cheers!

mk1 wrote:Looks snake oil salesman to me, as I said the other day,

that got, ahem, ignored.

Probably because people don't agree with you. I reckon that this crank will cure a lot of the ills that have always befalen Big power A series engines, it's just a shame I wouldn't be able to afford one.

Ok, yes I was being a bit controversial, debating things, since I have not seen the test figures.

But a limited edition expensive crank can always work, but to cure what? Cam chain wear?

1000's of Cooper S cranks produced was an excellent engineering achievment - their quality was superb, and underrated.

And I will try too keep youtube in only youtubeland from now on Mark, I did go overboard sunday, sorry - my rugby team lost and beer and all that - OOPS!.

The problem that this new crank is designed to eliminate is a very destructive vibrational period that all 1275 A series engines are subject to, this usually starts round about 7,500rpm & causes many different problems.

Amongst these ( but not exclusively) are making the valve springs vibrate sympathetically this effectively reduces the spring pressures meaning that the engine can't make more power as the valves are not closing efficiently, It also effects the cam drive system making the cam flex in the block, this also reduces the effective rev limit. To get around this problem in the past tuners have used very long duration cams with relatively low lift this reduces the amount of work that the valve springs have to do. So using very strong valve springs and the type of cam mentioned higher rev limits were possible. The downside of this was that engines of this type tend to rattle themselves to pieces very quickly & need a rebuild after only a few hours running.

By using a crank & rods of this type this problem is to all intents & purposes eliminated, meaning that 1275 A series engines can be revved much harder for longer & can be enabled to make MUCH more power reliably.

Yes, the Standard 1275 Cooper S crank is good for what it does but it was NEVER designed to rev to 8 or 9,000 rpm for 2 hours constantly. If you do, the engine will blow up.

These new cranks have been designed for SERIOUS RACING where they can expect to receive this sort of treatment regularly. Yes, I don't doubt that they are expensive, but when you factor in the usable power achieved & expected reliability of the engine I am sure the difference is not as great as you would think.

This is of course just my take on things, knowing Nick & knowing how much time & effort he puts into his new developments & how successful his development cars have been over the last few years. On the other hand you may be right & he may just be a snake oil salesman spinning a load of bullshit to baffle people & rob them of their hard earned cash.

sorry, this 'Snake oil', is it an upper cylinder lubricant?

the crank looks like a very propperly engineered solution to a specific racing application, and presumably it is allowable in certain classes of racing or the significant investment wouldn't have been made.

It is of course a bit of a niche market, but one which exists none the less.

will it reduce demand for 'original' cranks?

So are you saying this crank has been made to match a specific block in said harmonics? Which block though? Excellent late Cooper S block, a 1300 closed tappet chest block, or the Metro very good block, albeit with machining? And what is the bigend size anyway? Sorry to be so nitpicking, by the way.

sell Mark, come on, sell...

will it reduce demand for 'original' cranks?

I would like to think so, but I very much doubt it

So are you saying this crank has been made to match a specific block in said harmonics?

The vibration is a predominantly a consequence of the long stroke & 3 bearing nature of the crank, combined with the less than ideal counterbalance weights on all A series cranks. The actual block is much less of an issue.

Too right. Lighten the revolving weight between the main bearings with marvellous advancement of modern metal technologies, and it will solve it. But the price though? That is the crux. It is alright making something, as long as enough people will buy it? Production industry lesson number one.

I don't imagine for one second that Nick will struggle to find customers

It’s a lovely looking thing. I wonder if KAD will be able to squeeze two extra bearings into their alloy block.