6 replies to this topic

[oltonlad]

i went down the garage to do a couple of jobs on the 1098 engine build, while i was there i turned over the crank (by hand) to make sure that everything was ok.........but it wasnt!!.....when the 2 middle pistons were just about to reach TDC the engine locked up solid, i assumed that the crank was catching on something so i reached for my socket and ratchet to see if i could turn the engine with a bit of light persuation, it did turn but it was very notchy when the 2 centre pistons reached TDC, so i removed the transfer housing to see if i could find out what the crank was catching on, and guess what.....it was the central oil pick up (again), this is the second time that i've had problems with a central oil pick up from min-its.
the first one broke when i fitted it and now this one is catching the crank!!
i will be phoning julian and i will want a full refund, also i will want another gearbox gasket set and whoever makes these crap central oil pick up pipes can reinburse me for my time as i will have to strip the gearbox back off the engine then mess about removing the laygear to remove the central oil pick up pipe, its just as well that i did not run the engine as eventually the crank would have rubbed straight through the pick up pipe and i would have ended up with no oil pressure and possibly a damaged engine!!

as you can imagine i am not at all happy

here are the pics of the damage to the oil pick up pipe (this is the damage by turning the crank by hand for about 6 revolutions)

[ROON]

I understand your frustration but most makes of central oil pick up pipes are very close to the crank/rods. Had you checked for clearance before bolting on the gearbox you could have given the pipe a little tweak.

Would have saved you a load of time and a gasket set.

[oltonlad]

the brazing on these pick up pipes are not the best as i found out from the last one that i had from minits....and i'm sure that i'm not going to be doing any kind of "tweaking" to it because it will just break just like the last one did!!

anyway, if the pipes run that close to the crank then why are they not re designed so that they dont catch the crank?....no-one told me that it was likely to catch the crank!!

[ROON]

I have only has this problem when used on small bore engines. I dont know why they are like it but most I have fitted needed a tweak. I have seen some made from smaller pipe but not seen them for a while.

I have used Min-its for years and like you have never had a problem. Its always good practice when fitting after market or performance parts to check at each stage of the build for any problems. Like I said I do understand how frustrating it is.

[oltonlad]

do you think that i could try and heat the pipe up without removing the box and tapping the pipe to put an indent into it so that it clears the crank or is that a bad idea?

[ROON]

I would advise taking the engine off the box but in the past have used a drift to move it over a bit with the box fitted.

[Cooperman]

Have to say I have fitted loads of centre pick-ups, all from MIni Spares, and never had any clearance or quality issues.