Crankshaft worn on end - has anyone had this?
Turbo Mini Forums

Took the clutch and flywheel off the other day and noticed that the crankshaft was wearing in two spots on the centre hub just in front of the primary gear. Has anyone else had this and is it normal?

yes this is common, caused by an incorrect procedure of fitting between the flywheel taper and crank taper on a highly worked motor, have you more pics of the underside of the crank tail and the flywheel taper ? then we can determine whats what if one or the other or both are reusable ?

Looks like the original clutch & flywheel and the bottom end of the motor is stock standard. If incorrectly installed then it would have been done at the factory.
Car is a 94 SPI with 130,000 kms on it.
I don't have any other photos on me at the moment but can get some on Monday night.

That flywheel has been off at least once in its life. I have never had a factory assembled flywheel fret onto the crank, they tend to pop off the taper with a good loud crack and eave a perfect taper.

your right colin ... I also suspect the main bearings are goosed as well with the oil around the clutch housing

Gee you guys are great at delivering good news. Wasn't planning on doing the bottom end. I thought the leak is just from the primary gear seal? Pretty common isn't it?

You could reuse that with some minor care...
I'd guess the clutch gas been changed at least once on 130k kms, don't you think?

yeah that looks reusable, loads of rubbish spread about that as soon as theres the slightest of damage to the taper its scrap which isnt the case, and yes the leak does appear to be coming from the primary shaft oil seal, make sure if your replacing it you fit it properly.

130000km is a lot of miles for an a series, but if it drives ok and oil pressure is good i'd be tempted to leave it (of course depending on how your using it)

130kms is a lot for a mini I guess but it runs well and only has that little oil leak from the clutch housing. I'll replace the seal and see how it goes. As for the crankshaft, I'll clean it up along with the flywheel boss and fit the new clutch. When it blows I'll re build the bottom end.

Thanks all for your feedback.

Id lap the two together, that should help all the good face meet up well

13.95 1/4 mile on a 2.95 fd. Carnt be that hard to beat!

I noticed there is no how to guide for correctly fitting a flywheel in the how to section, might be worth someone like Steve doing one on the next engine build? might save a few cranks.

Checked out the crank when I got home tonight and the rest of the taper is fine. Below is a photo of the flywheel hub. The silver bit you can see on the inside is the crank shavings that have built up over time.

I believe I can clean it up and re fit it. In fact I'll more than likely do this anyway.

You may want to replace that hub, as it doesn't too good from the pics.

I managed to recover my taper like yours but slightly worse, by taking the high spots off with a diamond file, then using fine grinding paste took the final high spots off.

If you put grinding paste along the whole taper you'll find the widest part of the taper will lap in before the narrower sections as the surfaces are travelling a further distance with each rotation. So make sure you only lap them together until the high spots have gone.

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1/4mile in 13.2sec @ 111 terminal on 15psi

Thanks Matty.
Will try and clean it while keeping it as even as possible