Crankshaft

[new to this]

Just googled them, nice and handy for me just a few miles away.

What would be a ballpark cost for this sort of work?

A while ago i had a quote £380 for balancing

[Guest]

A while ago i had a quote £380 for balancing

Grief!!!
I have never paid that, even the company I use in France that is a filial of Schenk I doubt would come to that figure!
They just charged me 200EURO for a mini crank but they are EXPENSIVE!

8 rods & pistons, make up weights for the crank, balance flywheel, crank, and clutch cover.
It's not such a long job for an experienced operator, say ONE MORNING?

Any idea why they charged so much?

[mole42]

I'd have said that half a day wouldn't be more than £200 even at top whack.

[Guest]

I'd have said that half a day wouldn't be more than £200 even at top whack.

Yes we just had this "experiment" in Switzerland.
450EURO to change 2 UJs in a propshaft (which I said were unneccessary), then balance......then when the prop came back it was no better than when it was taken off the car (still vibrated).

To say I was unimpressed was a mega-understatement.
Goodness knows why some people think a 90min job to balance anything is some sort of rocket science exercise to charge mental amounts for, then we have the other numpties who only nip up flywheel bolts and fit the nasty repro ones (which are all "S" rated) from all the normal sources.

I saw one of those only 3 weeks ago in France...it sounded like the crank had broken or a rod had let go.
I'm astonished the flywheel stayed in the car!

[Goldstar]

Gareth, with all your experience in small business, you must know that you're not just paying for his time (btw I'm not defending the amount). We get this all the time in our business "you were only here half an hour, how can you charge £60?" well, madam, you've called a highly trained technician who has a van to run, equipment to buy, materials to pay for, insurance, memberships of trade bodies, training, profit to make and the minimum call our fee covers all that and gets you in his diary. All adds up

Switzerland is a bit crazy though.

[Guest]

you must know that you're not just paying for his time ... We get this all the time in our business "you were only here half an hour, how can you charge £60?" well, madam, you've called a highly trained technician who has a van to run, equipment to buy, materials to pay for, insurance, memberships of trade bodies, training, profit to make and the minimum call our fee covers all that and gets you in his diary.

Yep saw all this stuff in the UK, and it usually came from crooks + some even worse versions in France and Germany.
(But of course in Germany - duh... we do things with "German quality"... yea yea bollox!
eg. Hey how about the sh..t Bastuck suspension springs from Eibach, that are so way out from one to another the car leans over to one side?).

Then another eg. why do I have to pay 250 EURO for a tufftride job in France when it costs 40 quid in the UK from exactly the same company via its filial in France, same problem for DLC costs 3x more in France, so I wait for the lastest excuse?

All you do is ship your stuff to Eastern Europe, go back to normality, stop paying those silly prices, and/or find another supplier.
I had the same rubbish from a company in Wales, claimed all the time the "setting up time was so expensive" while of course if I don't walk in the door, those machines are standing idle....so they proceeded to charge me 150 quid per head to remove exactly the same 6mm from 6 heads...

What did I do?
Took all that work away from rip-off Britain, so now costs me 30 quid a shot to do exactly the same job when I want and how I want it with a much better surface finish.

Switzerland?
Well the Swiss are clever, they set the highest prices in the world for the "swiss quality" label (more bollox!), but in fact they make all their money by farming it out to places like Portugal then reselling it with the "made in Switzerland" fake label...

It's a small world.
Some of the best most interesting work was often done in the most unlikely places, but they're no good for people who have fixed ideas and are snobbish.

[Goldstar]

Crook and a snob? It's a wonder I survive

[Guest]

Crook and a snob?

Actually that is not a glove that fits Stag owners.
It was nothing personal.

When I read the opinions of German TR owners in particular, it struck me as particularly odd they are always knocking countries like Turkey or Eastern Europe but have no idea most of their camshafts are in fact coming from Turkey as that company is OEM for people like Renault and Peugeot.

Lots of the remade crown & pinions for the Triumphs are made in Turkey, engine parts made in Israel etc etc.
Some are good, some are bad, but you should see what people write about the ex USSR.
They put people in space, but Germany seem to ignore that entirely.

Snobbery?
huh! I even had a go at the chinese steel conrods, but hey nobody has broken one!

You should see the reaction to me bringing a 16 valve head in for flow test from Russia.

I thought the thing was really good, huge valves, big bores, lasts for 400 000 miles on terrible fuel, everything for enormous torque.
Everyone turned up their nose at it who saw it.

Then they saw the flow figures.

FANTASTIC, well outperformed a Cosworth YB turbo head..... a 2.7L 4 cylinder 16 valve engine that can easily turn 400bhp, and if the block were recast would probably easily manage 800+...

[jbuckl]

12 years ago a tuftriding service at TTI was £65 in the uk for a stag crank.
Now its about £110 & has to be sent away (Wallwork) , as no-one seems to have tuftriding in Birmingham.

I don't know anyone in the UK or US who would make 4 bob weights for 200 euros, just arranged for a single bob weight @ $850

[Guest]

12 years ago a tuftriding service at TTI was £65 in the uk for a stag crank.
Now its about £110 & has to be sent away (Wallwork) , as no-one seems to have tuftriding in Birmingham.

I don't know anyone in the UK or US who would make 4 bob weights for 200 euros, just arranged for a single bob weight @ $850

If you send me a PM, you can take your crank to a company I use in Birmingham.
They have just delivered 3-4 to me, and their quality is excellent.
They are VERY good and the service is friendly.
I have used them for a number of years, and their turnaround is quick and prices reasonable.

I stopped using TTI cos they mucked me about too much.
It became a nightmare, like most British have become.
I also stopped using another co in Wales (plasma nitride) because when the cams came back they were covered in surface crazing from arcing!
I used to use another co for plasma nitriding in Tamworth.
They started mucking me about too, although their quality was fine.

Take your V8 crank to Andy, the guy I said for balancing.
He makes up weights to balance V8s and of course can add tungsten to it if needed (but it won't be).

The problem is not finding people do to the work.
The problem is finding people YOU CAN TRUST and ON TIME.

[jbuckl]

Thanks for the help & info.