[Dragncar]

Originally Posted by Stan Weiss

One of the people who liked that post is "Wolfplace" That is Mike Lewis who is doing Dragncar's work. Mike is very knowledgeable.

Stan

PS - Mike check your email.

Monday when I see him I will check out his shop and post some pics if he gives the OK. I have a wolf that looks a lot like one of his so that will be cool to see his "dogs".
Maybe after he does some work I can asking if he will let me do a 1/2 day dyno session. Most of the time he does full days.
I hear he is doing less work and looking to sell out and/or train someone to take over.
Sounds like I need to get that IA2 down to him to get that started. Once he is gone it will be a Bay Area trip to get top notch work done. I hear Dave Riolo is getting ready to retire in the Sacramento area too.
Mike does have the IA2 in his CAD files. I need him to finish and bush the bronze .904 lifter bores and all the rest. My block is only started with the big lifter bushings, semi finished.

[Bill Eveland]

Here were my 6.625 Molnar length weights

[Dragncar]

Kinda strange the 6.8 rod is 22 grams lighter then the 6.625 rod ?

[firechicken]

Maybe due to the 6.625 Pontiac rod having a larger big end bore.

[Nobuddy]

Not to hijack the Molnar thread, but my Crower big block sportsman 6.8" for Pontiac bearings are 580 rotating, 263 reciprocating and were within one gram. $424 delivered on clearance a couple years ago. Right at half of the old list price. I'm sure these are same forgings as the BB Chevy BB and with the big end opened up. I think the bushings can be exchanged..

[MarkS57]

Originally Posted by Nobuddy

Not to hijack the Molnar thread.

yuk! yuk!

[Dragncar]

Took everything down to Lewis's shop today. By "shop" I mean the best equipment money can buy and you could eat dinner off of anything there. Just incredible. We talked for a bit. He was just feeling me out I guess. Then he gave me a tour of his shop. Took m to the 4 axis CNC machine in its own room, then the dyno. Then started taking off valve covers on a SB2 with 40K into it.
Everything top shelf. He lives in the sticks. Even bought his own fire truck, you know, just in case. Lot of stuff to protect.
He is looking to work less. Asked about doing the IA2 and he said not at this point. I am going to have to work on it I guess. Maybe if I dyno the 461 it will soften him up a bit. He said he was open t o the dyno session.
I would have like to take some pics of his shop, but it was the first day we met. Maybe later.
He said "your crank sure has a lot of holes in it". I said just fix it, please. He told me he would have cut the counterweights down some in his lathe.

[Dragncar]

Mikes done with the balance job. Going down Tuesday to pick it all up with my new Molnar rods. Taking the High Ports down do have them dusted off .020 . He has the equipment to end up with that mirror like finish. Taking CR up from 10.80 to 11.24

[Formulas]

Molnar 6.8

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by Formulas

Molnar 6.8

Those are nice!

[Dragncar]

Originally Posted by Formulas

Molnar 6.8

Those are the exact rods I bought from Lewis for this balance job. He says they are the best rod for the money period.
The guy knows all the manufacturers. He called up Tom Molnar himself to get mine coming.
I have yet to see these standard 6.8s but the Power Adders I have are very nice.
The standard rods are very light for the amount of power they can handle IMO.

[Dragncar]

Picked up the rotating assembly today. I have had a few engines balanced. But never have I had the machinist tell me to make sure I do not mix the pins up. Apparently the balance job he did took into account the minute weight differences in the Ferra tool steel tapered wall pins.
First for me. going to be taking all my stuff to this guy.

[mysticmissle]

it would be pretty silly to spend all that money having it balanced and then mix up the pins. That is usually part of the balance process as they have already shuffled the heavier pins to the lighter rods/ or pistons etc.
I think you ought to listen to the man.

[74SDformula]

Originally Posted by Dragncar

Picked up the rotating assembly today. I have had a few engines balanced. But never have I had the machinist tell me to make sure I do not mix the pins up. Apparently the balance job he did took into account the minute weight differences in the Ferra tool steel tapered wall pins.
First for me. going to be taking all my stuff to this guy.

Just curious, how much does a balance job of such precision go for?

[Dragncar]

I was first quoted 350 $ But it was actually less. Ended up being 275 $. I got charged less for the rods than what I was quoted too so it was a good experience.
He was a Pro driver for awhile. Been 6.30s back in the 70s with a blown alcohol small block. Dude is badd @$$. Great stories.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by 74SDformula

Just curious, how much does a balance job of such precision go for?

I'm not sure how "precision" any balance job is.... Everyone has to guess at the weight of the oil.

[Dragncar]

Side by side of Molnar 6.8 rods. Power Adders on the right. The small end looks a lot beefier on the PA rod you can see the ribs are thicker. But the width of the beams are close to the same.
You can really notice the weight difference when you hold them.

[Dragncar]

Looking at my balance sheet, and this crank was "balanced" by a local shop it started out "initial unbalance" at Left, 28.5 grams, Right 22.2 grams.
Now to be fair this crank was balanced for rods weighting 810 grams vs these 749 gram rods.
But just the 6 gram difference from left to right when he started out is a issue.
Lewis's final unbalance Left .41 grams and Right .44 grams.
I am going back to this guy.