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01-23-2019, 11:17 PM | #1 |
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Mercury crankshaft
Wow, I wonder what happened to this crankshaft ..
Ive had this Mercury crankshaft for a few years, and Id like to use it, but not sure if it would hold up, It is somehow cut close the rod journal, never seen this before. Casting flaw ? |
01-23-2019, 11:27 PM | #2 |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft
looks intentional.
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01-24-2019, 01:42 AM | #3 |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft
It's probably already ran many thousands of miles without any problems. No reason it can't go many more miles without problems!
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01-24-2019, 04:04 AM | #4 |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft
It is in the area where excess weight often needs removed for balancing. I would suggest that is the most likely explanation.
Whether or not I would use it would depend on the level of performance the engine was being built for. But, if it is ok in all other respects I doubt it would be a problem in the average street performer. |
01-24-2019, 06:32 AM | #5 |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft
Its been machined for balance.
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01-24-2019, 06:55 AM | #6 |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft
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01-24-2019, 07:24 AM | #7 |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft
The only way to know for sure is to check it for balance. Looks like a friction saw attacked it.
I would NOT use it. Your entire engine would literally "revolve" around that cut. Hard to believe it was that much "out". Not worth taking the gamble. Last edited by 19Fordy; 01-24-2019 at 08:53 AM. |
01-24-2019, 07:28 AM | #8 |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft
I was going to say the same. Seems like an awful lot to take off to get it to balance. I guess the shop's drill bits were lost when they balanced this crank. LOL!
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01-24-2019, 09:49 AM | #9 |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft
These crankshafts were cast in a gang. The sprue ports interconnected in the mold so that cast iron would reach all the areas of the mold. When they broke the cranks apart, it sometimes leaves some jagged areas so areas like that were generally machines smooth just like removing flashing. It was rudimentary machining so it wasn't always purty.
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01-24-2019, 11:14 AM | #10 |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft
I've seen a lot of flathead crankshafts, but never one that looked like that. I would not use it without a LOT of checking (balance, magnaflux etc.). It might be easier/cheaper to find another crank.
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01-24-2019, 05:17 PM | #11 |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft
You need to get that thing balanced at a machine shop. I sincerely doubt it can be. That's probably why it's not in an engine. I wouldn't use it.
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01-24-2019, 05:56 PM | #12 | |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft
Quote:
It passed inspection at the factory and doubtless ran for many years and miles without any problems. A lot of unwarranted assumption going on here. |
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01-24-2019, 05:58 PM | #13 |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft
I was going to post similar to what 40 Deluxe posted above. My guess would be it came from the factory like that, balanced within spec at the time and most likely has at least 100,000 miles on it!
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01-25-2019, 12:41 PM | #14 |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft
Agree cmpletely with the last 2 posts . I'd use it , I've used ones similar maybe worse but have personally removed them from running engines .
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01-25-2019, 01:16 PM | #15 |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft
Thanks for the replies guys, Im gonna keep it, ll be building a engine for my 30 pickup soon, Ill put it in there,
Cheers …. |
01-25-2019, 01:23 PM | #16 |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft inspection before grinding
At our shop we MagnaFlux all cranks before grinding, and check for any distortion that would affect use. It isn't unusual to detect problems, as many cranks were salvaged from engines that had been junked.
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01-25-2019, 01:53 PM | #17 |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft
...
Last edited by Pete; 01-26-2019 at 05:36 PM. |
01-25-2019, 04:02 PM | #18 |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft inspection before grinding
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01-25-2019, 07:06 PM | #19 |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft
They generally just drill into the counterweights to remove weight or add weight depending on the imbalance characteristics. We had a discussion on here before about cranks that had more metal loss than expected when the gang of shafts were separated at the foundry after casting. There have also been some discussions about balancing.
Prepping one for racing applications is a lot more involved than just balancing one. Ford would grind off lumps and smooth out flashing before machining the shafts for front & rear shafting & flange, oil flow ports, and bearing journals. I don't know what there inspection procedures were but they likely performed some NDT inspection to weed out any that were obviously not going to pass QC. The clean out plugs would likely have been the last thing installed. Balancing would have been performed prior to sending them on to the assembly line. Sometimes the funky looking stuff lasts longer than the nice looking stuff. |
01-25-2019, 07:18 PM | #20 |
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Re: Mercury crankshaft
Rotor wrench, myself not being an engine builder, please forgive this dumb question regarding engine balancing: Is the weight of oil in the crank's oil gallies taken into consideration when balancing a crank?
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