Hello all,
I am contemplating building a ground up race engine for my MGB vintage racer
and have a question on crankshafts. While there may not be that many on the
list that are running MGBs, there are some that run Elvas and I'm sure that
someone can point me in the right direction.
My question has to do with the book, How To Power Tune MGB 4 Cylinder Engines
by Peter Burgess. On page 43 the author states that there two types of
factory (five main) crankshafts used in the MGBs: the early B's crankshaft was
replaced by a cast iron one. Surprisingly, the cast crank is the superior of
the two being better balanced with better wear characteristics. The best cast
crank is the flat-sided one to be found in the 18v engines from 1971 to
'74...The early crank in not flat but has offset counter weights.
My limited experience with Chevys says that a (forged?) steel crank is
superior to a cast iron crank. A fellow MGB racer says that the crank with
the offset weights (the steel crank) is the one to use. I'm now confused. At
this stage of the project, I have access to either crankshaft. Is Peter
Burgess right about the later flat-sided, cast iron crank being the one of
choice?
My crankshaft grinder says he can turn down the crankshaft (he was looking at
my 3 main crank, which is the flat type, when he told me this) in a lathe and
cut the counter weights to a near knife edge thus taking a lot of weight out
of the crank for improved performance; Any thoughts on this?
Rod Schweiger
'64 MGB Sebring Replica
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