When you talk about buying new parts I recall a friend in the early 50's
building a Ford flathead V8. He bought bought five new sets of
connecting rods and had them magnafluxed before he found eight that
passed the magnafluxing. Are most new parts magnafluxed by the
manufacturer nowadays?
Brian Evans wrote:
>
> The problem with Magnafluxing is that it only tells you that the part's not
> cracked *now*. If it's past it's fatigue life, or installed wrong, or
> being over-stressed (like big sticky tires on suspension designed for 3"
> wide rock-hard "skinnies"), then it can crack five minutes into the next
> stress cycle. The only real solution is to life parts and change them
> before they're due to break, and in some cases to make new parts that are
> intrinsically stronger than the originals. I note that when BMC was
> running factory racing teams in the '60's, things got changed out about
> every race - just like the modern racing guys do now. Anyone thrown out a
> billet crank with 1,000 miles on it lately? I thought not...
>
> Or to run tires and engines more in line with what was available in the
> era. But that's a whole 'nother discussion (grin)...
>
> Brian (who doesn't magnaflux anything (except cranks), but does buy a lot
> of new parts...)
>
> At 11:35 AM 5/30/01 -0400, Don Queen wrote:
> >It's difficult to argue with someone who's technically right, but let's get
> >real. Of Course it would be good to have all vintage race cars suspensions
> >magnafluxed yearly. I can think of a 100 other suggestions that MIGHT help
> >prevent an accident, but to suggest that someone should give up the sport
> >because their car was not recently magnafluxed is simply out of line.
> >
> >Don Queen
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: owner-vintage-race@autox.team.net
> >[mailto:owner-vintage-race@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of Mark Palmer
> >Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2001 8:38 PM
> >To: vintage-race@autox.team.net
> >Subject: Re: Broken Stub Axle (Spindle) on Austin-Healey 3000
> >
> >
> >Listers,
> >
> >Two points: whenever you experience a failure of this sort, please report it
> >to Ely Fishkin, the Secretary of Vintage Motorsports Council. He is
> >valiantly trying to create & maintain a database of vintage car failures, so
> >that it can be used to forewarn others of common failure points. Ely's
> >phone number is 303-753-1090, he has e-mail but I can't lay my hands on that
> >address right now.
> >
> >Second point -- "it was magged OK eight years ago" -- EIGHT YEARS AGO?
> >Seems to me you ought to be magnafluxing all the critical suspension bits at
> >least once a season (including the ones that are supposedly not weak points
> >-- and it's hard to imagine which suspension parts AREN'T critical). IMHO
> >that's a minimum level of maintenance required for any form of racing. If
> >for some reason you don't want to do that, you should seriously reconsider
> >whether you ought to be racing at all.
> >
> >We often hear certain rationalizations for lesser levels of maintenance --
> >"I'm not going that fast", "I don't race that often", etc etc. I view
> >those as excuses, and dangerous ones. I don't have statistically perfect
> >data, but over the course of attending about 100 vintage races I've never
> >really seen a correlation between speed and broken parts, or race frequency
> >and broken parts. A broken spindle can happen to anyone, anytime, so we all
> >need to be vigilant (and yes, even yearly magnaflux isn't a perfect
> >preventative).
> >
> >Mark Palmer (who broke a front hub a while back -- even tho it was magged at
> >the beginning of the season)
> >
> >
> > >From: Fred Crowley <oldwolf@airmail.net>
> > >Reply-To: Fred Crowley <oldwolf@airmail.net>
> > >CC: vintage-race@autox.team.net
> > >Subject: Re: Broken Stub Axle (Spindle) on Austin-Healey 3000
> > >Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 21:47:26 -0500
> > >
> > >I've seen this before. Not common - but it can happen. I check the hubs on
> > >my
> > >3000 after every event (dye penetrant). Denis Welch in the UK has some
> > >stronger front hubs that I would seriously look into. It's a straight
> > >replacement for the stock hubs - better metal and a better radius where the
> > >stub meets the upright. Worth the money.
> > >
> > >Regards Fred
> > >
> > >"Gary Black (Hexagon Transportation Consultants)" wrote:
> > >
> > > > Listers,
> > > >
> > > > Just returned from the CSRG race at Sears Point. Thought some might be
> > > > interested to learn that I broke a front stub axle. Wheel fell off on
> > >the
> > > > cool-down lap. No damage to driver but some body damage from the wheel
> > > > passing by. The axle was crack-checked 8 years ago. Not a weakness on
> > >big
> > > > Healeys that I was aware of. Will crack-check the axles on a more
> > >regular
> > > > basis hereafter.
> > > >
> > > > Gary K. Black
> > > > HEXAGON TRANSPORTATION CONSULTANTS, INC.
> > > > 40 S. Market Street, Suite 600
> > > > San Jose, CA 95113
> > > > Tel: 408-971-6100
> > > > Fax: 408-971-6102
> > > > www.hextrans.com
> > >
> > >[demime 0.97c removed an attachment of type text/x-vcard which had a name
> > >of oldwolf.vcf]
> >
> >_________________________________________________________________
>
> Brian Evans
> Director, Canada
> MCI Wholesale Internet Services
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