[hurryinhoosier62]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

A luxo-barge could still have been abused by a number of overheating cycles, and towing. Or sitting in a field in hot summers/cold winters.

I dunno, I used to feel OE cranks were fine to use, OE rods too. Now since the stuff is readily available and affordable, I just eliminate as many possible risks in any build.

I would even go a cast cranks before using an OE.

A machine shop could easily miss signs when checking the OE parts too. I just don't trust anything anymore.

If, just if, there is that chance of failure, and it does fail, I would beat myself up over not replacing an OE prepped part. And not spending that nominal extra money.

Reminder. The cost could be not just the amount you spent the 1st time, but the cost of doing it all over again combined.

Just how I feel, and personal opinion.

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Most of the Chinese cast cranks are JUNK. This isn’t an opinion; it is FACT. I’ve seen too many NEW off shore cranks that had so much taper and O/R that we were grinding them .030 under just to get them in spec Want to talk about the ones that were .040 out of stroke? The BRAND NEW we had to scrap because of this? Even using a .005 above stroke/.005 below stroke criteria we couldn’t correct this much out of stroke AND use .030 under bearings. My old friend and mentor had an expression he used a lot: “New doesn’t mean good”. Just because a part is “new” doesn’t mean it isn’t junk. OE Pontiac cranks should be subjected to NDT ( Non Destructive Testing) before reusing them. As Mike has said many times they were producing nearly 1,000hp in Grocery Getter with an OE Pontiac crank. A properly prepared and machined Pontiac engine OE crank is capable of handling 600hp on the street. If you are concerned about longevity, cryo treat then nitride the crank after re-grinding and equalizing the strokes along with regrinding the radii on all journals.

[Gach]

Here’s a good one guy buys 400 for his Firebird and guess what he finds, broken cracked. Funny thing is the whole crank turns freely but when he goes to take it out, its broken in half.

https://youtu.be/333_4uFcWfU?si=zFRnSPp5zBZKWBYW

[HWYSTR455]

Originally Posted by Gach

Here’s a good one guy buys 400 for his Firebird and guess what he finds, broken cracked. Funny thing is the whole crank turns freely but when he goes to take it out, its broken in half.

https://youtu.be/333_4uFcWfU?si=zFRnSPp5zBZKWBYW

Looks like a cheaply rebuilt engine, dreaded multi-eyebrow-nightmare pistons and a mix-match batch of rods. Probably had zero machine work done to the block or crank.

That would be my guess anyway....


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[HWYSTR455]

Originally Posted by Gach

Here’s a good one guy buys 400 for his Firebird and guess what he finds, broken cracked. Funny thing is the whole crank turns freely but when he goes to take it out, its broken in half.

https://youtu.be/333_4uFcWfU?si=zFRnSPp5zBZKWBYW

Looks like a cheaply rebuilt engine, dreaded multi-eyebrow-nightmare pistons and a mix-match batch of rods. Probably had zero machine work done to the block or crank. But still suggests a forged would be a better choice.

That would be my guess anyway....


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[HWYSTR455]

Originally Posted by hurryinhoosier62

Most of the Chinese cast cranks are JUNK. This isn’t an opinion; it is FACT. I’ve seen too many NEW off shore cranks that had so much taper and O/R that we were grinding them .030 under just to get them in spec Want to talk about the ones that were .040 out of stroke? The BRAND NEW we had to scrap because of this? Even using a .005 above stroke/.005 below stroke criteria we couldn’t correct this much out of stroke AND use .030 under bearings. My old friend and mentor had an expression he used a lot: “New doesn’t mean good”. Just because a part is “new” doesn’t mean it isn’t junk. OE Pontiac cranks should be subjected to NDT ( Non Destructive Testing) before reusing them. As Mike has said many times they were producing nearly 1,000hp in Grocery Getter with an OE Pontiac crank. A properly prepared and machined Pontiac engine OE crank is capable of handling 600hp on the street. If you are concerned about longevity, cryo treat then nitride the crank after re-grinding and equalizing the strokes along with regrinding the radii on all journals.

My understanding is they corrected the crank issues in like 2015 or so, but could be mistaken. Regardless, everything needs to be checked thoroughly.

And that was an Eagle crank I bet?


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[hurryinhoosier62]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

My understanding is they corrected the crank issues in like 2015 or so, but could be mistaken. Regardless, everything needs to be checked thoroughly.

And that was an Eagle crank I bet?


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Nope. One of the 454 BBC cranks purchased from Competition Products in MI. Unless you have access to the metallurgical composition of the base cast iron used I would NOT purchase ANY off shore cast crank, period. The ONLY off shore forged crank I would use would be from SCAT or Molnar. Everything else has too much taper, too much O/R and are out of stroke on EVERY rod journal. I don’t like grinding new cranks .010 under or more to make them useable.

[Dragncar]

Originally Posted by hurryinhoosier62

Most of the Chinese cast cranks are JUNK. This isn’t an opinion; it is FACT. I’ve seen too many NEW off shore cranks that had so much taper and O/R that we were grinding them .030 under just to get them in spec Want to talk about the ones that were .040 out of stroke? The BRAND NEW we had to scrap because of this? Even using a .005 above stroke/.005 below stroke criteria we couldn’t correct this much out of stroke AND use .030 under bearings. My old friend and mentor had an expression he used a lot: “New doesn’t mean good”. Just because a part is “new” doesn’t mean it isn’t junk. OE Pontiac cranks should be subjected to NDT ( Non Destructive Testing) before reusing them. As Mike has said many times they were producing nearly 1,000hp in Grocery Getter with an OE Pontiac crank. A properly prepared and machined Pontiac engine OE crank is capable of handling 600hp on the street. If you are concerned about longevity, cryo treat then nitride the crank after re-grinding and equalizing the strokes along with regrinding the radii on all journals.

Yup, I bought a early IA Eagle cast stroker. Not only was the stoke off on this stroker, it was bent .004 and had .001 tapper on the journals. Not to mention severely rough thrust surface.
Whitmore had to send it to his crank guy. Now I gots me one of those 1200$ cast China cranks you can not trust or give away. So I gave it to my brother and implore him not to run it all the time.
He seems set on running it. Should be fine but.............

[hurryinhoosier62]

Originally Posted by Dragncar

Yup, I bought a early IA Eagle cast stroker. Not only was the stoke off on this stroker, it was bent .004 and had .001 tapper on the journals. Not to mention severely rough thrust surface.
Whitmore had to send it to his crank guy. Now I gots me one of those 1200$ cast China cranks you can not trust or give away. So I gave it to my brother and implore him not to run it all the time.
He seems set on running it. Should be fine but.............

Pretty much what we found. Consider this: the MAXIMUM allowable taper on the journals of a “v” style crank are .0002. This is after polishing. We had the majority of Wang Chung cast cranks be at least .010-.015 out of stroke with some journals being .001-.0015 out of round. OE cranks are pretty bad about being out of stroke but they rarely exceed taper specs or are out of round.