I took my crankshaft and connecting rods for my '4A into a local machine shop
about 7 weeks ago, just got them back today. Asked to have them turn the
crank, nitride it, balance it, and grind off the rear scroll to fit the new lip
type seal (supplied them with the new seal w/ dimensions to grind it to), plus,
for the rods, have them shotpeened, nitrided, and balanced.
I've never rebuilt an engine before, so I've never had any experience with
machine shops, and have no knowledge of machining, but evidently it takes a
very
long time to do this. I was hoping to have it all back within a week or so,
but it ended up taking 7, and when I picked it up today, the crank had been
turned, and it had the rear scroll ground off. The nitriding and balancing
weren't done, and the rods hadn't been done at all. So I paid for what was done
($220 to 'turn crank' and $250 to 'grind seal surface to fit new seal') and
just
took the rods home, figuring if they hadn't been touched in 7 weeks, they
probably weren't going to get done if I left them there any longer. My problem
is
this: Will balancing and nitriding the crank necessitate having to have the
crank 'turned' again?
Also, does anyone happen to have a picture of a TR2-4A crankshaft with its
rear scroll ground off, so that I can determine if it was done correctly? I had
given the machine shop the new seal and dimensions to grind the crank to, yet
it looks like it had remained in the box with the connecting rods when I
picked it up. Evidently the shop had to send the crank out to a shop in
Sacramento
(about 200 miles away from where I am in the South Bay, CA.) and apparently
they rarely do parts for Triumphs, so I am just weary that it may not have been
ground down to the exact dimensions if they did not have the seal or
dimensions to work with.
But again, like I said, I have no knowledge of machining, so I am not sure
(and I've never had parts machined before either.) Also, do these sound like
reasonable prices for this? Hopefully, I didn't just pay $470 just to have to
have the crank ground down again after it is nitrided, and then have the new
seal
not fit up properly and leak all over the place, and need to buy a new crank
anyway. Does anyone know how much nitriding and balancing should cost? I
figure if the costs get out of hand, then I might be just better off buying a
forged crank from Moldex for $1600, and have something that's stronger anyway.
The
guy at the machine shop seemed like a good guy, I'm just thinking they must be
disorganized--maybe the crank WAS nitrided? Is there anyway I can tell? Oh,
and if anyone knows of any good machine shops in the Bay Area, let me know...
Thanks,
Sean
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