Fly wheel disaster...

[minimonkey]

I have recently had the engine on my 1967 mini rebuilt to a 1380cc with all the trimmings...

I had in the garage a super light fly wheel ready to go on, but when it cam to fit it, it slid onto the tapered shaft to far by about a a millimetre and wouldn't do up tight. Turning over the engine the fly wheel ground on the sides of the housing...

I went ahead a put the old standard fly back on, but just wondered if there is any way of fixing the tapered whole???

Or what to do with this very expensive paper weight??

thanks as always

Monkeyboy

[DanGT]

There are a number of ways to do this but you have to keep in mind 2 things. 1 it is on the hole quite expensive. 2 if it is not 100% right you would not be the first person to catch parts of the flywheel with your leg. I had the same and got a new fly wheel.

[guru_1071]

monkey

it may not be the fly wheel thats at fault, sometimes engine reconditioners reface the taper on the crank, which moves the flywheel further up.

either problem isnt easy to fix, you can machine the flywheel if thats at fault, but if the backplate is hitting the bolts that hold the transfer case on then its game over already.

as a general rule of thumb, a steel flywheel should stand off the end of the crank by about 2-3mm, any less indicates a problem.

[Cooperman]

You could have the inside of the flywheel taper metal sprayed, then re-ground, then l;ap it onto the crank, but the cost of having this done propely would be greater than buying a decent lightened flywheel.
Metal spraying is not new technology, but has improved a lot over recent years. A friend of mine has told me that with big ship diesel engines it is common to metal spray the crankshaft as new cranks cost, literally, tens of thousands. But then, a ship crank only turns over at very low revs.
I did wonder about metal spraying an EN40B Cooper 'S' crank which I have and which is 0.040" down, but the sort of revs used might cause a disaster and I don't want to risk scrapping a Cooper 'S' Mk.1 block.

[minimonkey]

Thank you gentlemen,

I think I will bit the bullet and shell out for a new ultra light one,

An engineering buddy of mine said that I could repair it, but the cost of filling a re- boring it would far out-way the cost of a nice new one?!

with a bit of luck I can sell the standard fly wheel on e-bay and re-coup a little of the costs...

Any one want a super light fly wheel paper weight!!!

thanks again