[78w72]

Originally Posted by Gach

Initially when Eagle cranks became available, they had a lot of issues. Trust me on that, I dealt with a few of them. That gave them a bad reputation left a bad taste in a lot of peoples mouths. So it’s going to take a long while to rebuild a reputation.

I dont doubt they had issues early on, how long ago was that? Was that for cast cranks that I heard of some issues or the forged ones? Just stating my experience with a butler provided forged eagle crank... for the average 500-600hp street/strip build they should be/are good cranks.

Lots of guys use cast eagle cranks for pontiac stroker builds & other brands, yes there are/were a handful of problems with them early on... but again, you only hear about the small number of problems out of probably hundreds of thousands without problems. I would use a stock GM cast crank before a chinese cast crank though.

[steve25]

Yes that’s all fine, but when it’s your aftermarket cast crank that took out a short block that took you many years to save up for, then that’s not a small thing!

Maybe what needs to be asked here is for the folks who had one of those early aftermarket cast cranks fail on them did they on the next rebuild stay with a aftermarket cast crank, or step up to a steel one?

I bet I know what the answer is.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by steve25

Yes that’s all fine, but when it’s your aftermarket cast crank that took out a short block that took you many years to save up for, then that’s not a small thing!

Maybe what needs to be asked here is for the folks who had one of those early aftermarket cast cranks fail on them did they on the next rebuild stay with a aftermarket cast crank, or step up to a steel one?

I bet I know what the answer is.

Merry Christmas Steve..... Those cast cranks were availble for quite a few years before the forged units were offered. So the answer to your question would be that most folks would replace the failed units with another cast crank or if the budget and schedule allowed they would step up to a Billet.

We've never had an overseas cast crank fail. We got two from an early batch that had the poor finish on the thrust surface and corrected that issue before using them. To refresh folk's memories here, Butler worked with Eagle to develop those cast cranks. They felt there was a need for them and had to buy a truck load to get them made. They sold that nitial batch of cranks at a much higher price tha they sell for today. Over the years the castings and finish have improved from the original. IMO there is still a place to use these crankshafts but I never felt they're for high horsepower builds.

[Gach]

There’s a market for them no doubt, when you know your market 95% is street cars, for guys who like to do burn outs and probably occasionally race just to see what she’ll do. Must likely 450-500 hp thats all done 5000-5500 rpms pump gas deals then those cranks will live. They know that if you say hey you need to go bullet crank $3200.00 then market drys up. Same thing with aftermarket blocks vs using stock block. Many of us had ran 10.30’s with stock blocks and cranks thats around 625 hp. And with iron heads that flowed maybe 265 cfm, but they peak at around 5500 rpms. So how hard is it to duplicate that not hard at all. Even street guys making that kind of hp who may make a few trips to track Will live. They know that, thats were the money is. Today thats what its all about mostly restorers looking for that muscle car they can take out and really enjoy after having a ton of money and years of planning and saving.