The Dator crank is finally home!

[80spitfire]

Well the other day my Dator crank finally made it back in one piece and I must say it looks fantastic! Jerome does such good work! I'm getting really close to having the motor all ready to be put back together. The cylinder and head are at the machine shop awaiting machine work and once I get them back I'll paint them up and put the motor back together.

I found some very interesting things when I was working on that motor The first thing being one grooved piston and one smooth piston. The smooth piston ended up snagging a ring and damaging the combustion chamber. This all happened around 20 years ago.

Another thing I found was the thermostat,the one that was in it had the pin blown through the top of it. I'm not quite sure how that one happened. I put a picture of it next to a NOS one so you can see the difference.

When I was taking off the intake boots I found something interesting there too. Somehow one of the studs went missing at some point and someone decided to just put a bolt with a bunch of lock washers instead it was pretty loose when I took the boots off too. I'm not sure if that was the side that the bad piston was one but it wouldn't surprise me if it was. I'll have to check when I get the cylinder back.

But anyways, it's been a pretty interesting engine so far.

[JoeRainville]

Sending Jerome a crank is like money in the bank. He has done my 340/s crank, four 1980 Liquifire cranks and my Texas Cyclone crank over the past few years. Needless to say I am very happy with his work.

Good luck on getting your machine back together, keep posting updates for us.

-Joe Rainville

[ICCSF 108]

Personally, I think you should be thanking the Dator Gods for turning loose of a rod for Jerome to find for your crank..

Kenny

[80spitfire]

You're exactly right Joe it's about the best investment you can make!

I couldn't agree with you more Kenny I'm still in disbelief that Jerome found that rod kit. I'm so incredibly thankful that the guy was willing to let it go. The best part is, it came with a NOS rod bearing too so now I have my old perfect one as a spare in case I ever find another Dator!

Do you guys have any opinions on what the thermostat being blown would have done?? i'm not really sure I just knew it didn't look good lol

[80spitfire]

I got a call this morning that said after only 2 and a half days, my motor was already done being machined! They did a fantastic job on it too! I learned that making a connection with the machinists is a great idea. I told them all about what the motor came out of and sure enough the guy remembered watching the Dators race the I-500. Needless to say I could tell he really wanted to do a good job for me. Apparently the studs were so seized in the block that he had to weld nuts to them to get them out and then he got me some new ones. He also noticed that there was a broken bolt on the side of the head that holds the water pump on and he even went ahead and pulled that out for me! What a great guy. Here's some pictures of the whole motor, they weren't able to get rid of all the pitting because he didn't want to shave the head too much and mess up the compression but it's still perfectly smooth.