Well there's your problem Sir!

As I suspected, the crank is busted! Pulled the engine out today, stripped it down and this is what fell out when I undid No4 main. She's conclusively fubar! I'll have to strip the rest down to see what if anything is salvageable but it's dark outside and when this dropped out it landed on my inspection lamp!! I may have a look at the spare engine and see what's in that - pull the crank and make sure it's OK - I'll get it ground anyway but it's been my spare for 15 years and I never heard it run in the first place :-)


Here's what the rest of the crank looks like, hard to tell what's fubar but it doesn't look bad to be honest - click the image for a full size pic. The rod and main bearing cap look OK, the thrusts are toast but otherwise it's not looking hopeless.

One thing I will need is a new fan, I managed to break a blade on the plastic fan :-( I like that fan - I do have a metal/ali one but it's a bit knocked about.