How many of us are using the Austin crankshaft?

[Geoff101]

I've got a Barlow crank and rods in my RP but only because I had it in pieces to rebuild anyway and since the originals needed white metalling and I had the offer of a slightly reduced unused crank, I took it. Sold the old bits to cover some of the cost.

[Chris KC]

I don't see any real reason not to use an original crank, at least for pottering about - but I'd do a proper crack test on it first. In my experience the 'ring' test may flag up a complete dud but is no guarantee of a good shaft. I would do dye penetrant first and if that passes then move on to magnaflux.

[Robert Leigh]

Ulsteroid with Phoenix crank and Austin rods, and '28 Chummy with the same. I did take the Ulsteroid to 6600rpm, but a while later Fenella said it was noisy. When I dismantled I found that the head had dropped off what had been a new little end bolt, leaving me with a cracked rod. It's always wise to listen to the wife if her hearing is better than yours!
Robert Leigh

[Bob Culver]

In lab test on plain rotating shafts and constant load, life is short after first miniscule crack detectable. In practice,with varying loads, obviously different as evident by the great number detected cracked. So a reasonble life treated reasonably can be expected from one crack free.
Fatigue life is hugely decreased by any stress increase. Raisng c.r. and rpm does this and very many cars are modified and/or driven much harder than pre war. 45 mph in a Seven was fast, and roads were much more meandering.
The Phoenix cranks are nitrided. The surface layer in compression is reckoned to give a high degree of fatigue resitance, just as case hardend gears survive remarkably.
My RP had an older exchange recon engine at 40,000 which had presumably not done less, and crank intact at 110000 total. 
Very many cranks have been ruined by heating the rear journal to build up. I fitted one, untested, turned sharp also, and wrecked the engine after 3,000 miles.
The replacement has the radii filed out with a thin chain saw file and polished! (And not rebalanced!) In developing the BMC B engine they tried radii ot .060 and .090 and found the latter 10% higher fatigue limit, which at the same load represents an enormous life increase. Javelin cars also increased radii to.09 to delay breakage. 
Sadly many "reconditoners" had sharp edged stones to reduce immediate comebacks from radius ride and have ruined myriads of cranks. With unhardend cranks can sometimes restore with a small rotary stone.
In my expereince with Javelin cranks also and many other parts the ringing test is uselss unless the part very seriously fractured.

[Winston Teague]

There are only 2 types of Original Austin Cranks: Broken ones and ones that are about to break.............It's a bugger when they damage other stuff, especially when good blocks are getting rarer, mind you my 1 1/2 " pressure fed Phoenix set is now 33 years old and has never had an easy mile!

[Hugh Barnes]

To counter some of this, my Box saloon, owned since 1970 has the original crank stil in it. In fact, seriously to tempt fate, I've never broken a crank yet. Though, to be fair, I've just built new engines for both the Box and the Cabriolet and have put new cranks in them both. I guess I've just decided I've tempted fate enough over the years!

[Parazine]

1927 Chummy - 1 5/16" Phoenix crank, Austin rods

1929 RK Saloon - 1 5/16" Austin crank and rods

1926 Top Hat, will have 1 5/16" Phoenix crank and Austin rods, if I ever get them back from the balancing shop!