Bradan 550 engine rebuild | Page 4 | FerrariChat

Bradan 550 engine rebuild

Discussion in 'Bradan' started by BRADAN, Mar 12, 2014.

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  1. 166&456

    166&456 Formula 3

    Jul 13, 2010
    1,723
    Amsterdam
    A failure like this can only come from 1) bad design, 2) bad alignment or load on the bearing, 3) bad installation or 4) parts problem.
    1) can be ruled out since this is a first for this failure, that leaves a choice of those other three.
    That shaft [42] is suspended by those two bearings, the front one is fixated axially, the rear is not - which makes sense as the aluminium of the engine will grow more than the shaft. But does the rear bearing run into a stop somewhere? And is there a way to check the shaft alignment?

    I would also be interested to know where the debris of the bearing went.
    The damage while bad now could have been worse. Hope for the owner that that head is recoverable.
    Nice pictures of the innards by the way, that crank looks the part.
     
  2. fatbillybob

    fatbillybob Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Aug 10, 2002
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    Don't understand post. This happened to your car too or this is your car?
     
  3. fatbillybob

    fatbillybob Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Aug 10, 2002
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    Is this damage due to the failure or is this wear characteristic of mileage like on 348's

    How many miles on this motor?
     
  4. 166&456

    166&456 Formula 3

    Jul 13, 2010
    1,723
    Amsterdam
    It looks to me as if the chain guide damage is due to the failure. it would have created much more slack in the chain and the pull from the chain would force the gear upward, also toward that tensioner. but I am sure Bradan has seen more of these chain guides to definitely answer that.
    With such a low mileage, it could be that the bearing failed very early on in the cars life due to misalignment or another reason, and it simply went undetected till now.
     
  5. bundas

    bundas F1 Veteran
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    Dec 31, 2005
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    mitchell barnes
    just commenting
     
  6. BRADAN

    BRADAN Two Time F1 World Champ
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    I believe so.
     
  7. BRADAN

    BRADAN Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Yes. Nothing inside of the pump but we will rebuild regardless while its out.
     
  8. BRADAN

    BRADAN Two Time F1 World Champ
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    I originally thought a bolt backed off the lower timing drive or cam gears but this was not the case. The last major was not the reason this engine failed.
     
  9. BRADAN

    BRADAN Two Time F1 World Champ
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    He killed the motor basically right away which avoided burning up all the bearings and more damage.
     
  10. BRADAN

    BRADAN Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Coupler is fine so is the pressure spring. I've seen them get stuck on other cars when something gets inside but this one was fine.
     
  11. BRADAN

    BRADAN Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Honestly we will never know what exactly happened but a few people I respect agreed the bearing fell apart and a domino affect was a result.

    Parts just fail sometimes. You have to think in any manufactured part in the world from paper to Ferraris there is a certain percentage of failure or defect. It just happens.
     
  12. BRADAN

    BRADAN Two Time F1 World Champ
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    It's from the chain slapping around during the failure. I've seen other 550 chain guides and all show basically no wear. On the 348 I only really see the early style pads wear out.
     
  13. Barbapapa

    Barbapapa Rookie

    Jun 23, 2006
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    Michael S.
    Is the item in the foreground pic in post #54 the coupler? It's not focused but looks cracked.

    I still feel that this was caused by resistance from the pump(s) and not a bearing simply falling apart on its own.
    If there was high resistance to drive the pump, the torque from the chain and sprocket would put very high side loads on that bearing which doesn't look like one that can handle high loads. it would pull the sprocket right up against the guide.
    Something would have to give, either the chain breaking or the coupler splitting or teeth shearing.
     
  14. ernie

    ernie Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Nov 19, 2001
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    OH, OUCH!
     
  15. pma1010

    pma1010 F1 Rookie

    Jul 21, 2002
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    Great (if painful) thread. Thanks for sharing the details and responding to the questions posed.
    Philip
     
  16. BRADAN

    BRADAN Two Time F1 World Champ
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    I understand your theory and it makes sense. I just have to disagree based off what we see later in the thread. More updates to come.
     
  17. BRADAN

    BRADAN Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Anytime! I'm enjoying posting again and looking over all the work we have done in the past year.
     
  18. DONRON

    DONRON Karting

    Dec 21, 2012
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    Ron
    There's a Ferrari part that only costs 15 dollars ?
     
  19. BRADAN

    BRADAN Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Yes keep in mind thats what we believed caused the failure. They F*ck you being to expensive and f*ck you being to cheap. Can't win either way.
     
  20. BRADAN

    BRADAN Two Time F1 World Champ
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    This was a fun thread I never got to finish out. Enjoy the remaining pics.
     
  21. BRADAN

    BRADAN Two Time F1 World Champ
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  22. BRADAN

    BRADAN Two Time F1 World Champ
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  23. BRADAN

    BRADAN Two Time F1 World Champ
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  24. BRADAN

    BRADAN Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #99 BRADAN, Dec 12, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017

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