Subject: Re: [Mgs] mgb connecting rods

From: Richard Ewald <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 19:10:46 -0700

for what's it worth, on one B engine I built the piston and rod assemblies
were massively out of balance when the machine shop went to balance them.
Invest in a scale and match the rods and pistons to get all the weights as
close as possible, or send the whole mess out and get it balanced.
Rick

On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 5:08 PM, Max Heim <[email-masked]> wrote:

> Ha, I'm not the one building the engine. But it's just a fact that the
> rotating assembly needs to be balanced. If you take weight off the
> piston/wristpin/rod assembly, you have to balance that by taking weight off
> the crankshaft counterweights. Unless you want to just pile weights on the
> external balancer and let the crank whip around viciously.
>
> So my guess, given the innate conservatism of the works engineers, would be
> that the internal components stayed the same weight throughout the
> production run. But, I haven't looked it up.
>
> So my advice to Lorne would be the same as yours -- research these parts
> thoroughly to ensure one isn't putting together an unworkable hybrid.
>
> --
>
> Max Heim
> '66 MGB GHN3L76149
> If you're near Menlo Park, CA,
> it's the primer red one with chrome wires
_______________________________________________

[email-masked]
Archive: http://www.team.net/archive
Unsubscribe: http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/mgs/[email-masked]

---

From: Charley & Peggy Robinson <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 10:20:17 -0500

When I built the last one I took the new overbore pistons, old rods, 
block, crank & flywheel  to a machine shop in south San Antonio that had 
a good rep in the performance fraternity of south TX. Those guys knew 
just what I wanted.  I was surprised that the rods didn't need 
re-sizing.  The rods were well matched in weights; after all, they were 
a set in a apparently factory-built 18GB engine.  So I got the block 
boiled out and bored (didn't need line-boring) to match the pistons, new 
cam bearings, re-surface the flywheel and "balance the mess." :-) I made 
several trips down there during this process, a 150 mile round trip, 
with stop-offs for Tex-Mex food, etc.  Took everything home and started 
putting it all together.  I had a great time during this project and it 
worked out well.

BTW, I got most of my parts from George Merryweather of Classic 
Restorations, a Moss Motors drop shipper.  He had great prices!   I knew 
him from NAMGBR, met him at the annual MG GoF at Salado, TX. Anybody 
remember him?  I wonder how he's getting along.

CR

[email-masked]