early 2000 engine id

[dazzer]

Am i right in presuming that any early narrow head mk1 engine with open crankcase breathing will have the lighter crank? What year did the early engines change to sealed breathing and did the crank change at this point?

Thanks experts

Dazzer

[DJB_Harvey]

Yes the open breather engines had the "Wide" small bearing crank which is lighter . Early cranks had the scroll on the rear later a conventional seal .
Note though that export cars had a closed breather system even with the early crank .
3 different early crank blocks
Early with .687" follower
Late up to '66 ish with .800" follower
And some blocks with the early crank have the square cast on the side which can fool you into thinking its a late engine .
Best block to use is the one with .800" followers
Early wide bearing cranks used up to MB60000 ish 1967.
As usual .. More variations and oddities too many to mention here !
But to note early bearing shells are scarce

[dazzer]

Hi Dave

Thank you.

I've been offered a spare MK1 engine and was checking it definitely had the early crank… It does look very early though. I'm also checking its not a Standard Vanguard engine as been caught out previously with a mate, to the point where we'd got it into his MKII and then wondered why the gearbox wouldn't fit!

Cheers

Dazzer