decisions, decisions, decisions

original intention was to get my AEG480 EN40B wedged by someone who knew what they were doing and have it as the backbone of my new 1380

however for around the same cost I could buy a billet crank

I'd like to know your thoughts on pros and cons of each option

basically my objective is to have a strong 1380 that can handle +7k rpm for long periods of time

cheers

Are you planning to race the car? as in proper racing or is this a road car

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Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

road car with hillclimbs and track work on the weekend

I have been told by a few people (including GR) that wedging an EN40B crank is NOT a good idea.
Reason being they are nitrided all over, you wedge it you then have soft and hard surfaces.
You would have to grind through the nitriding to start with, as the surface is glass hard. can you say `buggered cutters'?

FWIW, I have 2 motors. One has an EN40B S crank, the other an EN16 big journal 1100S crank that is wedged stroked 3mm and balanced.
The wedged one is no smoother to drive than the stock S crank... and it took me 6hrs to wedge it!

Small journal cranks need wedging way less than the heavy big journal ones (which all have crap counterweighting). I would save yer $$$.

[edit] typo

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

valuable info there doc - cheers to ya!

Yeah Doc said what I was going to advise.

If your EN40B crank has is not ground beyond 030 in either big or small end, has a good taper, is crack tested OK, and no ridiculously large chunks missing from the counterweights (factory balancing) I would pop it straight in and forget about it.

If you plan an all out racer then look into one of those GR made in USA racing cranks ~$5000 each. Anything in between is not worth it in my opinion He's run several seasons with the same crank and it's still 000 on all journals. That's proof in the pudding to me...

Spend that money on H beam rods or something fancy that is more worthwhile

Feel free to PM me on what I plan for my next all out build (which is a dream at the moment but hey...)

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Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

There is some good info on cranks and nitriding here

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

You may find it enlightening.

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That's old chestnut's been raked over enough times already.
The question at hand here was about wedging...

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

There is relevant info in that thread to the question, very relevant.

It can be wedged OK, not that difficult to do as any nitriding won't be very deep through the skin left from forging, that is if any nitriding. It doesn't penetrate that skin or if it does, it's only going to be a the thinnest of skins.

It's likely that the crank will be bent after wedging though and IMO, for any gains from wedging will not be worthwhile.

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Asks about wedging specifically and quotes nitriding

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cheers all for the info, I appreciate it. I have decided to go down the new billet path, its going to add some extra years on the build but I want to do it properly!