LN Engineering 2563 Kit Options

[JimVG]

Has anyone here built a 914 Type 4 using the LN Engineering 2563-190 kit?

[zig-n-zag]

I wonder if you folks remember in the Paddock the racer who had broken his crankshaft in half, rebuilt it with all new parts and suffered the same thing again?

Same thing happened to me way back in 1989, though my engines were type 1 draw thru turbos. Yep, 2 engines in a row, broken cranks and major rod journal damage.

The cause was because they were not treated with tufftriding (at the time) or the highest level of heat treatment which is nitriding. The industry standard of induction-hardening cannot sustain anything over 6000rpm.

Nitriding a crank is done before final machining to size. If the crank has already been machined to size, cryogenic treatment is an acceptable way to strengthen and to prevent cracking the crank and destroying the engine.

The rod journals suffer oil starvation because the non-hardened crank bends and flexes over 6000rpm. This puts stress on the conrods running out of alignment and causes the pistons to scuff the barrels.