That's interesting stuff.

That is exactly what my old man said when I showed him a picture of it. Then he explained how it was important to shape the knifed edge so that it 'sailed through' the fluid but flicked enough up to keep things lubricated.

I didn't think anything of it. I suppose there is only one way to find out....

I spoke to BigE (Ernie) Last Night
He has an A14 and A15 cranks in stock,
so can make up a knife edge crank as needed,
Index ground and balanced, nice work...
the cranks are exchange..

Gary, [Lemonhead] Would it be possible to fab up an oil spray bar within the block, and then plumb it into the oil circuit of the block. Much like the mod that is done to hot L-series engines with an oil spray bar contained within the rocker cover. You could then direct oil directly at your Cam lobes. {Image courtesy of Datrats]

That's a good idea Benny, i will have a look at the block that i have set up downstairs to see how it can be done.

My next planned rally is the Southern Mountains Rally in late July, should have it sorted by then.

http://www.southernmountainsrally.org.au/

One thing I explained in my post that was stuffed up on me the other night that in my opinion knife edging a crank is the last thing that needs to be done to an hot engine, I firmly believe one of the best bolt on performance enhancer to my race motor was the very light flywheel and clutch set up, and i am still of the strong opinion that people should be looking in this area of their motors first before even considering doing this mod.
Realistically I removed about two kilo's of weight from the crank and yet I removed about twelve kilo's from the flywheel and clutch set up, (photo's in my album somewhere) doing the crank was just the last piece of the equation.

People also need to understand the science behind counterweights on cranks,(yes there is one) it's very interesting, Google it.

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Very good point Gary there is a big difference to be made with a billet
single plate setup however whats the A series option? :)

As for oil squirting the camshaft is it possible to notch the conrods
like toyota does to spray under the pistons and be enough for the cam?

Just going off Gary's mention of the Crankshaft counterweights aligning with camshaft lobes, have a close look in this photo again, you can certainly see the lineal relationship between the two.






I believe this was modified with the intention to flick oil up the engine block walls and toward the cam shaft, but the more I look at it the more I think it was simply lightening exercise rather than trying to achieve a true streamline effect.

I like the idea of the crank "Slicing thru" the oil, but there is more than enuff mass to fling oil about, the con-rods and oil from the mains and big ends will spray from the crank with centrifugal action,

the only time I've seen premature wear on cams is excessive spring pressure when bedding in a new cam, and the lobes almost disappeared after a short time..

Ive heard of more than several high lift units failing due to the lack of surface hardening
on the final product. This is not on re-grinds alone but welded and re-ground units.
So many things that can go wrong with welding camshafts hence the cost of billets.

I have one question about cranks and oil levels I'm not quite sure about, happy to be pointed in the right direction.

My way of thinking is that when the engine/vehicle is stationary the crankshaft is not actually sitting in oil, (I went through this when I made a winged/baffled sump) , if you measure a block with the dipstick in and compare the dipstick levels with the sump levels (obvious this is a 'bench' test) I'm pretty sure the crank in not sitting in oil, if so not by very much.

So my point is the only time the crank has oil splash on it is on movement i.e cornering, acceleration and stopping, even then it is limited, so at idle the crank has sweet f.a. 'cutting through the oil' action and it's made worse by knife edging.

Maybe if someone has a block on the bench and do the dipstick level test, and pour four litres of water in the pan to simulate oil level i'd be interested to know your findings.

I would say most of the knife edging has more to do with lightening the crank, the L18 on my bench the counterweights only protrude 15-20mm from the bottom of the block and doesn't sit in the oil when i made my sump. Making some sort of windage tray is also important so that the oil is kept where it is meant to be ready for the pickup to take it to the oil pump, same goes with baffling around the pickup. A crank scraper would also be of benefit to reduce the amount of oil rotating around with the crank.