[Bob Phillips]

Thanks Tony for the link to the ARP catalogue. Do they ever make NICE bolts and fasteners. I will try to get a quote from them on the costs of making some crankshaft bolts of the type we have been discussing. Meanwhile just waiting for some capscrews from Mcmaster-Carr to see if something useable can be put together at home. Will share the results when done.
I wanted to respond to Dan comments on the care and feeding of the C4 engine in his M18(post118). Now Dan has a really beautiful M18 and has had a hand in other high end, high quality restorations as well. When I was contemplating purchasing armour a decade ago he is one of the people I turned to for an opinion about the pros and cons of such an investment. In short, I value his opinion. Dan's M18 feeding regime is more of the champaine and caviar approach than the meat and potatoes, but as an owner operator he knows more about the need to pamper a 75 year old vehicle and its increasingly rare engine, than most people do. Aside from the higher costs of using AV gas and aviation oils I don't see how this could be an issue. In fairness, several years ago when I was anxious to start up and run both C1 and -46 engines I asked a US radial engine builder that I had known for many years, about fuel choices. His recommendation for both was to use the best pump gas you could get. That mean 91-93 octane but NO ALCOHOL.
In my current fleet of gas burning machines I run the regular slop only in a couple of daily drivers. Everything else;jeeps, trucks, lawn mowers, chainsaws, wood splitters, generators and my 4.2 L Jaguar ALL use no lead, high test fuel. I have had absolutely no fuel issues since I switched to high test. With respect to oil, Jaguar forums recommend the very best grade of synthetic oil you can find. So why not the best for your radial? Finally, at some point in the past I also recall Dan's recommendation to get oil tested for metal content from time to time as a way of preventative maintenance. Big rig owners do this all the time to diagnose the condition their engines are in and hopefully head off major problems before they can occur. Sounds like a very reasonable and prudent recommendation to me. So thanks to Dan for his input and first hand experiences in running his M18!