Hot Rods Hemi Guys-Question About Rotating Assembly

this recently finished 't' had an unfortunate incident with it's oiling system, and now definitely needs a crank, maybe the rods, and probably over-sized pistons (it was a standard bore).

should he try to find some used donovan parts or look for more (55 year-old!) chrysler items? i remember reading a long time ago that alcohol racers usually retire the rotating****embly after a certain time to preempt mid-pass failure.

 

I suppose it depends on what you're doing, but OEM stuff is usually good & Donovan stuff isn't much newer & has a higher probability of having been raced. What's the details on the failure?

 

oil system failure due to incorrectly installed pressure relief spring. it wiped out the crank's thrust surface as well as all the bearings...

 

yeah, the cost is a factor! he spent a bunch of money on this motor, just to destroy a very expensive component, very quickly.

if we can find a good crank, he can get started getting it back together. it's pre-registered for the hamb drags, and bill really wants to run it...

 

If a bad journal from a spun bearing can be welded up, why not a thrust serfice? At least you know what your starting with. Did the T have a donovan crank, or standard chrysler? I have 392 .10/.10 (freshly turned)crank im looking to sell if that happens to be what your looking for. Shoot me a PM if your interested.

 

Hemi cranks are easy to find. Of course you would want to have it checked out at a local machine shop before using it.

I wouldn't reuse anything that I knew had been raced, especially when there are still thousands of low-stress cores out there from Chryslers and Imperials.

Is this a 331, 354, or 392?

Might have some good luck on the Hot Heads swap meet page - http://hothemiheads.com/swapmeet/parts.html

 

I wouldn't waste my time looking for old Donovan rotating****embly parts -- anything you find will have been ran pretty hard. Used cranks from 'back in the day' scare me - many have small cracks, most were hammered on in racing (especially TF engines), etc..

If he is running a stock stroke crank, just find another good stock one and have it reground, etc.. It is hard for me to imagine the thrust being the first part to be damaged with no oil pressure - more likely the mains and rods in my book. Who****embled the motor . . . were the thrust clearances and main/rod clearances correct?

It may be more money and time to repair the crank than it would be to find a good replacement and regrind it. The stock rods should be fine with that motor (if they were just rebuilt).

Hopefully he has a good machine shop and whomever does the****embly needs to know what he/she is doing. If you have any questions, just PM me - will be glad to help.

Best of luck making the drags!

 

the reason i was asking about donovan parts is because another one our buddies, the late mike hill, switched to a donovan block for his blown studebaker.

 

Yes stock cranks are available.
Yes, he/you can just as easily get the crank welded up and refinished.

.

 

With the right equipment and a competitent operator the thrust surface of most any crank can be restored. However the procedure can be expensive relegating it to very rare or high cost cranks. It's NOT a procedure to be used in an application where a replacement crank can be had at a reasonable price.

Frank