Has anybody used this crankshaft, Good or Bad???? The price is the same for 4" or 4 1/8" stroke, about $500. An original 4" Merc crank will cost a little less by the time its ready to install.
47, Eagle has had some issues with Quality Control the last few years and to top things off, from what I hear issues within the corporate structure too. These issues have also had a negative effect on the product end of things. You will find people who still swear by them, as well as a equall amount of people who will swear at them. My shop stop using thier cranks over 10 years ago. Although we primarily aim at higher end builds, Crower, Sonny Bryant, and Callies crankshafts, any lower end builds I go with ****. You will get some hate mail here too, but remember you are talking about a entry level cast item. Which ever you chose, check the crank over with a fine toothe comb, and the appropriate precision measurement equipment if you have. If not find a good machinist to qualify the crank before you put it into use. TR
We've used numerous Eagle pieces, basically the 4.250" strokers, with not a single issue! With respect to the rods however, we do prefer the ****s over the Eagles due to the fact they are easier to install and require very little block (lower cylinder bore) clearancing with the longer strokes. I would imagine the 4.000"/4.125" strokes may fit with no grinding?? Not sure, as most we use are the 4.250". Eagles conn rods require too much clearancing to be cost effective! Both brands of rods use the Buick rod brg! The attached photos below show the crank and the rods. You can see the difference between the beam widths on the Eagles on the left and the ****s on the right! The widths on the Eagles are slightly "overkill" strengthwise, and makes for a heavier bobweight when balancing the ***'y! Thanks, Gary in N.Y. P.S. The 500.00 figure on the crank is a bit high, not sure if you are including freight or not?? The crank alone w/o freight should be in the area of $425.00/$450.00? Closer to the $425.00! The rods are slightly more expensive however, in the area of $500.00/$525.00. The (8) CB610P rod brgs required are reasonably priced.
I tried 2 Eagle cranks for a 440 Mopar motro I was building a few years back. Both of them were un-usable! They were not only bent, but the rod journal clocking was way off. Junk, in my and the crank grinders opinion. I ended up spending a lot more for a Mopar Performance stroker, but it was a very good piece. With all the screwing around with the Eagle ****, I wasted a LOT of time. Summit Racing was very good about dealing with it, and paid all the shipping costs involved with the nightmare. For my current 286" flathead build I used a **** 4 1/8" piece that I purchased form H&H. It was accurate and straight. The main problem with it was how ****in' out of balance it was. On the box exterior it read "Requires Balancing" but the machinist had a hell of a time with it because it was so ridiculously far out. He drilled a lot weight out of it to bring it around. He said he's never seen anything that bad, except for another **** crank he did previously for a Chevy motor. I haven't run this motor yet, and I'm hoping things will be ok there. In my opinion, if I could find a usable 4" Merc piece, I'd go with that before I bought another one of these **** cranks.
rodnut, just remember a WHOLE lot cheaper to remove metal, than to add. Adding tungsten cost $$$$$$$ especially done right, not like some of the knuckleheads out there that weld the slugs in. Your not alone with the Eagle horror stories.
Balancing these shafts isn't all that difficult, even adding some "mallory" (tungsten), isn't all that hard! The brand of balancer has much to do with the amount of labor involved! The total bobweight you would like to be near on these "Flattie" strokers is 1500/1550 grams or so. This all but guarantees that there will be drilling and no filling! A 1650 gram bobweight appears to be the focal point, anything heavier and it will need a piece or two of tungsten! (Add) Eagle has corrected many past issues, as have most of the others with all these off-shore components! (Add-2) The factory Merc 4.000" cranks will just make a 1650 bobweight, and this is the number on a Merc build with stock rods and replacement 4-ring slugs. Thanks, Gary in N.Y. P.S. That shaft pictured above required 225 grams removed from the rear and 100 from the front! On our CWT balancer it took my son about an hour, floor to floor, not countlng the time required to ***emble the bobweights.
True enough, but this **** was so bad my regular machinist refused the job and asked me to come and get it. "I don't want that thing flying out of my machine!" I ended up having it done by a large industrial engine rebuilder with a heavy-duty balancing machine. When they were finished, a couple of the c/weights resembled hunks of Swiss cheese! On the other side of the coin, you never really know how much abuse a 60 year old crankshaft has suffered. Although quite rare, I've seen a few Mercs that mag'd out good break in heavy builds and destroy the motors. That's depressing, for sure! I'd still risk it though.
Hi Guys, New subscriber, I have a 52 f1 with an 8BA engine, bored 30 over back in the 90’s. I’ve put maybe 500 miles on it since, looking to add an isky max1 cam and was thinking about adding a 4 or 4.25 stroker crank as well. Question, can I just add the crank and keep the stock rod and pistons or do I need to up grade those as well? As it sits right now the engine is stock except for a offy 4 bbl intake and Holley 650 on top. I should add that I have a pair of offy heads that I am going to put on as well. Thanks In advance for the advice. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Bart you will need the correct pistons to match the stroke of crankshaft you choose. Also depending on journal size of crank you choose you may or may not be able to use your rods. Gary GOSFAST above in this thread can supply you a complete kit. There are better cam choices than a Max1. Cheers Tony
Thanks Tony, I’m a novice here, so why exactly do I need a set of pistons? Different size heights from the wrist pins? Will the longer stroke make interference issues with the head? Thanks again. Tim Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Tim you are correct the wrist pin is moved up to compensate for the longer stroke so pistons do not hit heads. I can probably answer any questions you have. Or email cynthiakiwilover@aol.com Cheers Tony
The Jalopy Journal
