SHED RACING - Bugatti Type 35 Crankshafts Explained 

If you desire a vehicle with a roller bearing crankshaft as a poor man purchase an old Jawa 350TS :)

Well said and I agree completely

I thought it is an elegant bit! simple, solid, free for oil to flow and easily maintained each piece

Deserves a see through glass crankcase.

@@nudebaboon4874 maybe that was why the conrods of old kept putting in an appearance?

and the cute cat is guaranteed to boost ratings/subscribers. hehehe

Well said

Roller bearings simply need less oil, very little in fact. That's also why you will find them in the crankcase of nearly every 2 stroke, running with nothing but a tiny drizzle of oil that is heavily diluted with petrol would destroy a plain bearing in no time. The few 2 strokes that use plain bearings have to use absurdly oily premix, something like 10:1 fuel to oil.

Yea we will never be able to afford anything like this and many old people have no interest in sharing and mentoring young people.

A long time ago,Cars and Parts magazine had an interview with the guy who had actually designed the Duesenberg engine. Also roller bearing with an assembled crank. The rebuild on that engine,mid to late 70s,was spectacularly expensive. The guy said hey,we only expected perhaps 5 years for engine life. The fact they lasted as long as they did was a gift. You look at WW11 Maybach tank crankshafts,they have huge roller bearings bigger than the crankshaft webs. That is a plan B,works well but with its own issues. These things as Ivan says,really clever. A 1.5 litre engine,minimalist approach. Farmers kids in Molsheim,the employees doing the actual work under the direction of Ettore the erratic. Simple but precision with patience. You can teach farmers kids precision fits. The probably leather drive belt machine shop thundering away, blueprints then hand fitting each collection of parts to exact fit. I look at the complexity,I look at the weight of the crankshaft,I look at the need for Ettore's use of an oil distribution device,plus all the details Ivan shows,it is understandable modern engineers have gone with simple. This episode is brilliant to me. Myself,I only ever took a couple Suzuki motorcycle cranks apart,gave up on the idea of fixing the blasted labyrinth seal. Suzuki said they were not serviceable,I believed them. I look at this,I go wow,just wow. Ivan calls it a lovely bit of kit. It is.

@@paulmanson253 Thank you for reply, it's very interesting to know some facts from the designer. I didn't know the Maybach engines were a pressed up design, I've only worked on what is considered small to tiny engines and don't even know how to find information on engines I didn't know about. (if you don't know, you can't ask) I still think £20,000 is damn expensive, it's why I can only afford 1970's motorcycles 😉

@@1crazypj I am not certain Maybachs were pressed cranks. Given the torque load, probably not. But they did use roller bearings. Massive things. Looking at oh,a V8 auto crankshaft,vs there is some YT footage of Maybach rebuild,you can really see why plain bearings with full pressure oiling remain an industry standby,hard to beat. I remember a design engineer writing,he said don't be afraid to go with complex,but only after every straightforward approach needs to be discarded for some reason. Years ago a friend had a Suzuki water buffalo 2 stroke bike. If memory serves,the outer bearings were roller,and heavy wear,flex and Brinelling were a regular cause of winter rebuild of the engine. He persisted with that thing for years. How much extra power or higher rpm was a result of the roller bearing choice,no idea, but he sure put a lot of maintenance into the thing. You pays yer money and you takes yer choice. And I still think that Type 35 crank is a work of art.

Allen Millyard

@@alanwinter3316 both in a "league of extraordinary gentlemen".

I thought Iain T? :)

@@lowbaritonewwj he's not old enough yet to be a NT, mind you he could make it!

@@alanwinter3316 I must be the only one who doesn't "get" Millard...I find his creations to be absolutely stupid but. , granted, he is a clever engineer. (BTW, he isn't still calling his Honda 6 a "replica" is he? Tribute is the word)

What do they call Cotter pins then ?

@@stevewilliams2498 that's a very good question. Some Google searching leads to endless links saying that Seppos call split pins Cotter pins, but I can't find what they call Cotter pins. Just mention that they aren't much used these days, even on bicycle cranks. Just more dumbing down of the language.

Nah, we still use them all the time on light airplanes. And car suspensions. But Cessnas are chock full of cotter pins. No idea what a cotter is though, or why it needs a pin. Do you use the term "castellated nut? "

​@ExceptionallyCleverUsername just castle nut usually. I'm far too familiar with one use case for them, which is holding the wheels on trailer axles.

@@nerd1000ify Yeah, "castle nut" is pretty common here too, but I think "castellated" is regarded as more correct.

Sounds like these need regular dosing with Marvel Mystery Oil?

True enough, regarding very large aircraft engines such as the Pratt & Whitney R-4360 ( cu. In). Radial engine. They were designed and built like a fine watch on steroids and were capable of producing 3500 hp hour after hour at 2450 RPM at a gross weight around 60 tons.