Tue 17th September 2013
A pretty depressing 24 hours after Steve called to relay the news that my crankshaft was cream-crackered (knackered, kaputt) he called again with a novel solution to the problem which essentially saw him donating his just reground and polished 2.0 short stroke crankshaft to replace my duff one.
The method in Steve’s madness was based on a telephone conversation he’d had overnight with his US race race conrod supplier. They explained that they could manufacture conrods to match any size crankshaft bearing so this set Steve thinking about an experimental 2.0 race engine he was building. Rather than grind lots of metal off his very good 2.0 short stroke crankshaft to create a much lighter and more free revving unit – he could alternatively grind down my already partially over-ground crankshaft and donate his good standard crankshaft to me.
I’ll be eternally grateful to Steve for his lateral thinking at a time of crisis and for his selfless and risky swap. I just hope and pray his experimental engine works well.