A most disappointing start to the day, as I had a friend come round to the house, and he asked how the engine was going, so I said, "Have a look for yourself".

he nipped into the shed, and I started it, and he was gobsmacked it sound so quiet on open pipes, and after I released the choke, I left the engine on a slow idle to warm up. After a cup of tea, we went back to the shed, and I checked the exhausts and cylinders, and started to gently open the throttle. Then I dip three short blips on the throttle, "broom, broom, broom", and on the third blip just as I let the throttle go, there was an sudden "dink".

He looked at me, I looked at him, and just said, "It's seized, most odd". That was when the engine was almost ready to go in Brian's car, and all it needed were a few detailed tweaks, a clean with strip down and a rebuild.

In a few hours the engine was stripped, the crankshaft split, and the cause inspected. It was a mystery, how could this crankshaft fail? It had only done 27 hours running, and how come the rod had friction welded itself to the crank web.