Crank

[LTb1ow]

So come spring, I would love to rebuild my LT1. As of now its a heads/cammed yadda yadda....

I would love to be able to re use the stock crank and build a lightweight tough little 355, BUT to be able to make it a 383 for the same price (roughly) is killing me. Problem with that is, I need an after market crank...

So anyone recommend a decent crank for me? I wanna set up a 150 shot on top of it too. So as much as I would love one, a dragonslayer is a bit overkill for me.

Horror stories, love/hate certain brands would be much appreciated.

[V]

ive heard good thing about lunati and callies. just a few issues with supercharged lt1 with the callies. One day ill build an LSx with a lunati.

[LTb1ow]

Callies = Dragonslayer = 2k$

[V]

ah ok, i didnt know the names, my bad. lol

eagle are good too, check them out., but i wouldnt feel comfortable with one for high hp like i'd be going for(700+hp).

[NJ Torque]

like the old saying... you have cheap, fast and reliable.... pick 2.

[LTb1ow]

Well figure 400 or so with heads/cam 383, and throw on a 150 shot, 700hp should be a safe number to pick a crank on.

I have heard a lot of negatives about Eagle cranks.
Any one use or hear anything about compstar stuff?

[Pampered-Z]

Not trying to be a jerk or challenge you, but just some things to think about as far as your plans 400 N/A with a 150 shot = 550 HP. but 700 HP is a much bigger number and you are really looking at stepping up notches on the parts quality.

If you planning on a 383 W/ nitris and targeting 550HP then you could use the economy forged parts. But for 700 HP you need allot more so make sure you have the budget, money goes quickly when you need all the other stuff to support that HP even after you build the shortblock.

Your talking 700HP so you're talking about allot of stress on the parts, you want quality parts: Crank, rods, piston, rings, sprayed caps. And either 400 or 550 N/A, since it's an LT1 you need to upgrade Oil pump, Pan, double roller conversion = also requires elec water pump. Then you need to fuel the engine, upgrades to the pump and injectors right away. Once you break the 600 HP barrier you may need to upgrade the fuel lines and probably external fuel pump(s) as well. And then the rest of the drive train needs to be beefed to handle it too.

But as far as brand goes, don't think about brand as much as the quality. many of the manufactures sell from budget to high quality parts. Everything that I've seen people break were really less of the quality of the crank as it was the rest of the build, specially people using economy stuff that was basically stuffed into a stock block and being spun high into the RPMs. The LT1 snapping cranks has allot to do with the other parts people used as well. Built with the right parts failures are very rare.

[LTb1ow]

Ok, I guess I came across wrong, I do not want to build the motor to handle 700hp, I just want to build a sturdy engine that will last. Basically, I wanna do it once and not have to rebuild it until I wanna upgrade. The valvetrain is already pretty solid, and I prob could get away with the 30#s I have now for awhile. I have a beefy single roller and EWP already.

I just wanted some opinions on cranks from people that have used them. Its difficult to research a product when you can never get 100% straight answers. Its always some thing else that cause so and so to fail or the shop messed it up etc.

[Featherburner]

http://www.scatcrankshafts.com/
They build a sturdy forged one piece seal crank for a fair price.

[LTb1ow]

I was going to get their H rods, I guess I could use their crank too.

[Slow Z]

I run a Scat 9000 cast steel crank in my motor. I know quite a few others that push these cranks way past their recommended limit without failure. For $200 you can't beat it. Do a search on yellowbullet.com and check out the times some of those guys are running with them.

[LTb1ow]

See your missing the point here, I want to spend the extra coin to feel ok with the numbers I hope to be pushing. Not pray that it will work and if it doesn't oh well it was cheap. Its a DD not a race car.

[NJSPEEDER]

Scat cranks are pretty good, I know a lot of people that have pushed them well beyond their recommended limits.

Your best bet is to talk to whatever shop you are going to have do the machine work and build the engine. Just get an idea of what costs are going to be. If your goal is 550-700hp, then you won't be buying all your stuff from one company anyway and certainly isn't going to be some off the shelf kit if you want to put all the best you can afford in it.

[LTb1ow]

Thats the plan one of these days. I just wanna get some knowledge before going to talk to anyone so I can understand things.

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by Shownomercy

I was going to get their H rods, I guess I could use their crank too.

See if you can get a whole rotating assembly and take advantage of a package discount.

[LTb1ow]

Scat makes good pistons?

And can anyone recommend a good book that covers SCR/DCR and related topics?

[WildBillyT]

The kit will probably include SRP or JE pistons. Same brand, good stuff from what I've seen.

As for the book, I don't know. There is a lot out on the web though.

[LTb1ow]

The internet is a confusing place.

[Pampered-Z]

Originally Posted by Shownomercy

The internet is a confusing place.

Sorry, but I feel the need to give one of my typical long (winded) responses ,,,,

Well understand on a subject like this all you're going to get is opinions and general info. You can certainly "ball park" the parts you think will work. But if your looking for definite part numbers and pricing now, I think you need to take a different approach.

If you are going with a 150 shot you better pick pistons AND rings meant to be used with nitris, make sure you aren't getting a N/A designed piston in the kit!

For your final decision what you really want is to talk with the person that will be doing the machining and assembly, with them you can decide on brand and parts to get.

You're likely to find that builders tend to have preferences and experiences with certain brands and parts: such as Josh or Johnny, I'm more a racer more then a builder, I've just been around the game allot longer then most of the people here.

The builder will be able to give you allot more insight into the parts and why they choose them as they will have far more experience. I've used Callies for years, so I tend to go towards then as opposed to others manufactures.

As an example, sometimes what you think is a "cheaper" priced crank, could end up costing you more if the builder has to spend more time and material balancing it. In this case you could have gone to a slight more expensive (and high quality) part and end up paying about the same proce? But this something the machinist will know.

Likewise, with picking your CR. You really don't want to start looking at pistons/CR until you know how the block specs out. Another reason I don't like kits if you don't have a block ready before hand. This is a really good reason to use a spare block!

When I first talked to my builder, I was thinking 5.85 rods and a certain crank ( forget the model), but after talking with him allot, I went with a higher quality crank, stronger and told was better balanced from the manufactor, so less cost to me to balance. Also his advise was 6.0 for my plan to run high boost. So we had a plan and quote on the parts to get that were designed for the HP I planned. We actually built stronger, so if I ever wanted more I could turn up the boost and still have the bottom end to handle it.

So I sent my block to the builder, and during the machining, to get the block right they had to do more decking then originally planned. With the block near 0 deck, and a .40 bore JE didn't have off-the-shelf piston to yield the CR I needed. I opt'd to go with custom order pistons instead of another block. This also resulted in the piston~to~valve clearance being a bit closer then we targeted so I had to switch to thicker head gaskets; I originally planned on Felpro .39, but needed a bit more which = Commetics gaskets that were over $100 each. The custom piston and gaskets put me over the original price quote as well. So if I bought a kit it might have been worthless?

One last thing, I personally don't care who you choose, I know allot of people think we pimp our sponsors, but there is allot to be said for using a local builder! I used a local machinist for many years on allot of different engines I built. But for my LT1 I went to someone else that wasn't close, but was suppose to be the best! Many magizine articals praised his work and also allot of people on the major boards were using his engines with great success. Well for me, it took way too long to build the engine (almost a full year from the day I shipped the bare block to the day it returned to me completed), and it had bearing failure within 400 miles. On top of which the machinist closed his shop and dropped on the face of the earth.

I won't use a shop I can't drive to every again!

[Jersyboyy]

Im currently building my 383.
I just completed step number one. Getting a standard bore block for machining
Next my machinist/mechanic/shop teacher will be machining the block for the kit.

We talked I told him I want all forged internals to handle nitrous. He called me back with a number and I said buy it. All my trust is in him that w.e kit he is getting will be exactly what I need, he told me what it was but I cant remember because like I said trust.
Any way most of those cranks will work with your setup but a forged one would be the strongest and better for nitrous even if its overkill who knows what you may do with this motor in the future, might as well build it tuff now.

[LTb1ow]

Where is your machine shop located jerseyboyy?
Can you PM me a price on what your engine is running you?

[Mike]

i would send alex and josh some pm's to see what options and decisions they made with alex's car......it came out great, and im sure they considered other routes and have information still in their heads

[LTb1ow]

I have done that, and I respect Josh for it, but he requires that if he does machine work, he is building the motor. I would really like to build it myself so that's out of the question.