[Bermuda Blue]

Lets say a guy can't stand Chinese parts and wants to build a 4.00", 4.21" or 4.25" stroke x 3.00" main motor. Are there any made in USA options for sourcing such a crank?

[b-man]

A Crower or some other brand of crank machined from a solid billet is probably the only made in USA option, and even then there’s no guarantee that the billet was USA sourced. Very expensive in the thousands and long lead times.

All the forged cranks come from China nowadays there’s really no way around that, finish machined either over there or in the USA.

[mgarblik]

As b-man said, Billet is the only true American choice and you would need to verify where the billet came from if that's important to you. Crower current lead time is about 6 months and approaching 4K now with all the price increases. A more budget friendly, sort of USA made and with good quality control may be a Molnar Crankshaft. The machining is done in the USA, and their quality control is excellent from my limited experience so far. Other Chinese cranks say the machining is done in the USA as well but that doesn't guarantee quality. Eagle, Scat and some others make those claims. No matter what, you as the customer will need to check it yourself or have a trusted machine shop verify ALL the dimensions when you get it. Good luck.

[Bermuda Blue]

Thank you b-man and mgarblik for the quick and helpful replies.

[b-man]

Build it off of a 421, 428 or 455 block and drop in a factory 4.00”’or 4.21” stroke cast crank.

Plenty durable for most any Pontiac street engine up to 600 hp which should be more than sufficient.

100% USA made.

There’s no big advantage having a 3.00” main engine on the street.

I do get that at one time 455 and other 3.25” main blocks were hard to source and the more plentiful 3.00” main 400 blocks were one of the driving factors for the introduction of the 3.00” main stroker cranks. Now even the 400 blocks aren’t all that plentiful so I guess it’s a toss up.

[mgarblik]

b-man: I really like that idea allot, if USA made is the driving factor. 455 blocks are still out there. Friend of mine recently bought a pair of 455's standard bore with crankshafts, kept indoors for 2K for the pair. They look good.

[hurryinhoosier62]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

As b-man said, Billet is the only true American choice and you would need to verify where the billet came from if that's important to you. Crower current lead time is about 6 months and approaching 4K now with all the price increases. A more budget friendly, sort of USA made and with good quality control may be a Molnar Crankshaft. The machining is done in the USA, and their quality control is excellent from my limited experience so far. Other Chinese cranks say the machining is done in the USA as well but that doesn't guarantee quality. Eagle, Scat and some others make those claims. No matter what, you as the customer will need to check it yourself or have a trusted machine shop verify ALL the dimensions when you get it. Good luck.

Mike, the only Pontiac crank Molnar offers is a 3” main with 4.25” stroke. I know of a few people who asked the owner of Molnar about producing a 3” main 4” stroke forged crank at PRI. His comment was he needed orders to justify producing such a crank. I, for one, would purchase one in a heartbeat. The thought of investing several hundred dollars into a Chinese forged crank, just to have to invest several hundred more into it to make it useable doesn’t thrill me.

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by hurryinhoosier62

Mike, the only Pontiac crank Molnar offers is a 3” main with 4.25” stroke. I know of a few people who asked the owner of Molnar about producing a 3” main 4” stroke forged crank at PRI. His comment was he needed orders to justify producing such a crank. I, for one, would purchase one in a heartbeat. The thought of investing several hundred dollars into a Chinese forged crank, just to have to invest several hundred more into it to make it useable doesn’t thrill me.

I thought they had other options. Too bad. I thought Scat forged cranks looked OK but with the company being sold recently, no idea what the quality is now. Usually the first thing to go when a company is purchased are the engineers and QC people. That would concern me.

[Johnny406]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

I thought they had other options. Too bad. I thought Scat forged cranks looked OK but with the company being sold recently, no idea what the quality is now. Usually the first thing to go when a company is purchased are the engineers and QC people. That would concern me.

Molner does have other options, I again wrote and asked them to consider a 4" stroke crank for us.

https://www.molnartechnologies.com/d...-crank-shafts/

[tom s]

If I had to have a US forged crank I would look fo a 990,cut down to 3 in and weld up the thrust.Tom

[hurryinhoosier62]

Originally Posted by Johnny406

Molner does have other options, I again wrote and asked them to consider a 4" stroke crank for us.

https://www.molnartechnologies.com/d...-crank-shafts/

They have added several Pontiac cranks since the last time I checked their website. The problem with any stroke over 4.375 is clearance issues in a stock Pontiac block. The aftermarket blocks don’t have this problem.

[hurryinhoosier62]

Originally Posted by tom s

If I had to have a US forged crank I would look fo a 990,cut down to 3 in and weld up the thrust.Tom

Tom, in other words do a Smokey Yunick.

[b-man]

Doing all that work on a 990 SD crank makes little economic sense just to end up with something that’s more or less equal in strength to a new offshore forging at probably 3 or 4 times the cost when you consider what the price of a workable 990 crank is nowadays.

If cost isn’t really a consideration then a worked 990 or a new billet are really your only USA made options if you’re not into running a cast factory crank.

As Tom would say, this is the street section.

I can’t imagine that a prepped factory cast crank couldn’t handle 99% of the hot real street Pontiac engine builds. There’s one member here running 9.40s with a turbocharged 2-bolt main 455 block and crank that’s been together for over a decade.

[tom s]

Im running 2 cars with factory 421 cast cranks,the one in my Tempest has been in there 22 years now and never out.It had been nitrited,does have Carillo rods and Ross pistons.Many runs over 6000,retired to a 100% street car.Tom

[hurryinhoosier62]

Originally Posted by tom s

Im running 2 cars with factory 421 cast cranks,the one in my Tempest has been in there 22 years now and never out.It had been nitrited,does have Carillo rods and Ross pistons.Many runs over 6000,retired to a 100% street car.Tom

Tom, there is no doubt that Pontiac cast ArmaSteel and nodular crankshafts are tough pieces. I think nitriding just makes an already durable crank a little more durable. God knows the nitrided diesel cranks I have ground in the past were tough pieces.

[Johnny406]

Gentlemen,

Some of you have seen my post here and on Facebook with the same issue. I was recommended by a gentleman on FB to contact Dave Olsen at
Mile High Crankshaft in Denver (303) 781-6764. I spoke with him at length this morning and he can/will weld up the thrust area and turn down our 3.25 main cranks to fit a 3" main block. He's only about 100 miles from me and I will be taking a crank to him this week. Though he's never done this to a Pontiac crank, he's done it to many Chrysler cranks. I'll gladly share the results. Like most machine shops, he's a bit behind but this is an option.

[73 TRANSAM]

Mile High is a Top notch crankshaft specialist. Very nice people and very reasonable price too deal with.

[Tom Vaught]

Timkin Ball Bearing Steel is what Moldex Crankshaft and Bryant Crankshaft use for their custom Billet "Race Crankshafts".
Timkin is a USA company. They have been making very high grade crankshafts from this ball bearing material for many years.

The Butler Billet crankshafts were made using Timkin ball bearing material.

The 421 SD, RA-V and other forged Pontiac crankshafts were made by Kellogg Crankshaft using Timkin ball bearing USA material.

So there are STILL two sources for having a billet Pontiac crank made: Moldex and Bryant.

Tom V.

[Dragncar]

455 block, 428 crank, done. Properly done you will never, ever hurt them in a street engine.
Or you can pay big bucks to Modex, Bryant or Crower and get exactly zero benefit in a street engine except a lightened bank account.

[25stevem]

Tom, are you sure the 421 990 crank was a billet?
I had one for a while ( never used it) but I thought it looked to be a non twisted forging.

Unfortunately I have no pictures of it to refresh my memory!