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Re: Buying a 1500 engine for a Midget (Warning)

To: Dan Dwelley <ddwelley@excite.com>
Subject: Re: Buying a 1500 engine for a Midget (Warning)
From: "James H. Nazarian, Ph.D." <microdoc@apk.net>
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 13:39:30 -0500
Dan,

Don't give up yet. Describe in greater detail what damage you have found
to the engine and block. Maybe you can repair it.

BTW, if you don't mind my asking, what did you pay for the engine, and
what have you been quoted for the repair?

Jim

Dan Dwelley wrote:

> Hello all!
>
> I thought I would post this to the list to help others
> avoid what I failed to avoid.
>
> I purchased a 1500 engine for my Midget this past
> fall. The engine had good compression and oil
> pressure. I recently decided that I would clean it up
> and respray it before dropping it in the Midget. After
> removing a few parts, I bumped the crank pulley and it
> moved to the rear...hmmm...so I pulled on the pulley
> and it and the flywheel moved forward. This isn't good!
> I decided to take a rough measurement of the
> movement... .128". Guess what?...this is WAY TOO MUCH.
>
> I made a couple of calls and the normal end float is
> .006 to .014". Well...off comes the pan to check out
> the bottom end. My worst nightmares have been
> acknowledged. The crank and block have damage. It is
> repairable...so I'm told BUT the cost to repair would
> be greater than it's worth.
>
> Well, it looks like the original engine is going to
> get a rebuild after all...sigh.
>
> I'm not saying that I got ripped off (well notintentionally
> I'm sure but I paid a premium price forthis engine...so I'm told)
> but I am saying I didn'tknow what to check for on this type
> of engine. I figured compression was good, oil pressure
> was good,it ran fine...must be good right? wrong!
>
> When looking to purchase a 1500 engine for either a
> Midget or Spitfire, take a small prybar or large
> screwdriver and check for forward movement of the
> crank pulley. If it moves a noticeable amount...walk
> away or run! A dropped thrust washer can cause extra
> end-float but a non-repaired dropped thrust washer
> will trash the bottom end of this engine.
>
> Sorry to take up so much bandwidth with this but I
> thought this was an important lesson learned and I
> wanted to pass on my misfortune to those who may have
> travelled down the same road of fate as I.
>
> Thank you for your time,
> Dan Dwelley
> 77 Midget
> Alexandria, Va.
>
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