Bob Turner

As some of you know, I am looking for a 454 crank kit. Should I go for the full forged crank or go with a cast one?? I plan to go with aftermarket (SCAT) rods and possibly forged pistons if I can find the compression ratio I want.

I probably won't go with the 496 stroker. I will save that bigger BB buildup for the future- maybe a 540 or even larger....:eek: I need to get something done now so I can enjoy it.

What do you think?

Bob :cheers:

GWHITE75

How much power are you looking for? Cast cranks can take a good amount of horsepower with no problem. I just finished putting a rebuilt 454, originally out of an SS454 truck, and aftermarket 6 speed in my car this past weekend. I am in the tuning process now. The motor is a 4 bolt block, with cast crank. I installed KB hypereutectic pistons and a baseline turbo cam. In the months to follow, I intend to turbocharge this combination, limiting boost to about 6 PSI and expect to get 500 HP out of this combination without a problem. I will follow this motor with a rebuild of my 496" for turbo use. When I was a lot younger and poorer, I used to run motors with cast cranks up to 11/1 compression and pretty stiff cam. I never broke a crank. I had friends running 12/1 and I don't believe any of our motors blew up due to the crank.

The aftermarket 6 speed went in pretty easy, and the first test drive was uneventful, no vibrations, clutch or shifting problems up to 50. I will take it on the highway tonight and see how it feels between 70 - 100 mph. I did take pictures of the installation of the 6 speed and new Vintage Air A/C and hope to post them, once I get my webpage set up.


[Modified by GWHITE75, 3:03 PM 1/8/2002]

fauxrs

Bob, you and I have discussed your big block several times and I think I can safely say CAST. A czast big block crank is plenty stout for your intended purpose and much less expensive than a quality forged piece..beware - as I have heard that many of the inexpensive forged pieces running around are from China or some such place.

Why not get a Scat cast steel crank? as opposed to an OEM iron - it will be at least as strong if not stronger and a fair amount lighter - which is always good.

bence13_33

What kind of power is your engine going to be cranking out? For the most part a cast crank is fine....although a forged is MUCH nicer to have. I'm only going to be running a stock cast crank with my 525HP 454. If you are looking at a forged rotating assembly....start saving your money. I believe Summit carries a reasonably priced forged rotating assembly for the big block.

Fastguy

You really have to try to break a cast crank or deflect it bad enough to wrap up bearings, cast will be fine.

Bob Turner

I plan to get around 480-500 hp out of it using:

454-467 cubic in motor
Comp Cams XE 274H 230/236 .552/.555
Comp roller tip rockers
9-9.5 CR
049 HEADS with 2.19"in 1.88"ex
Performer or Performer RPM with 750-Jet or 850 Holley (or Demon) Vac sec
Block hugger headers (if they fit!!!)

NOT SURE ON CARB or INTAKE yet....

Bob
:cheers:

Steve439

No first-hand experience, but those Scat 9000 series cast cranks
sound really nice. I've read the article on them floating around
the web and it sounds like they're closer in strength to stock
forged cranks than cast ones. Not bad for about $250

71coupe

I would with a GM cast crank rather than a new China made cast or forged. If I really wanted a forged one, I would get a used GM or US made aftermarket unit - no more than .010" under.
One positive thing about cast: a cast crank dosen't flex as much as a forged one.

Injected

Bob,
I've built a number of 600hp/tq 454 2 bolt mains with GM cast units and they handle it fine. You can run properly setup GM rods too without any problems, sometimes it's a cheaper option. Then run forged slugs and it's a nice setup.

Greg

Bob Turner

Thanks to all for your help. I am still waiting on the machine shop to get back to me on the cc'ing of my heads. After that, the short block work will start. They have a used forged GM crank that I may go with for $400.00.

Bob :cheers: