Winberg Cranks would be one of the absolute lightest but they are not cheap. How about 28 to 32 lbs for their top notch racing small block cranks? Wicked!

 

Those vids are great! CNC'ing the block to reduce weight

 

I found this......

http://www.gilbertchevy.com/ChevyBar.../10185075.html

Not a bad price considering the savings. $4765 and 90 lbs off the front.

 

wow!!! that cnc block video was amazing. How do the hook up the oil filter/lines???? anyone have a video of the complete "after" the block is cnc'd to reduce weight????

 

I put my 90's bare block on a scale and it came up at 145.
no mains attached.

 

are we talking 2K for a crank or more?

Anyone make any cranks out of titanuim yet?

 

sounds about right. mine weighed 158 lbs., bare, except with main caps and bolts...

 

I am hoping to take delivery of my Aluminum block 434 this week. I will certainly weigh it. The crank is 45#'s which is as light as crower would go for that stroke in a street car. According to brodix, with no lightening on the block it come in around 100#'s.

A plastic intake for gen 1's would kick ***. There was one on the cover of a HotRod and the company was supposedly working on making a production unit.

 

No one has suggested it yet, so I'll mention gun-drilling the
cam shaft. Popular with the import crowd.

There are also these...

 

Don't forget the aluminum flywheel. 44 lbs down to 14 lbs...

Are you taking the motor apart at some point? I saved 8 lbs with a lightweight crank. Also, aluminum damper pulley, but I think I saw that mentioned above.

Have you gone through all fluid lines and hoses to remove unessary ones?

I was also going to mention valve covers, but again, Slalom beat me to the punch.

Bore it out to a 383 or 396, you'll save lots of weight in the block

 

Something that always help is replacing every bolt, screw and nut that you can with Titanium alloy. These weight 1/3 of screws made of steel, with the same resistance and withstand better the corrosion.

 

Great info, thanks!

 

NitrousSam knows this but for others who may not,
- it pays to remove weight from the rotating assembly
- it pays to retain/add weight (in the form of stiffness) to the block

An example I like to cite states that removing 15 lbs of weight
from the engine's rotating assembly results in an improvement in
acceleration that is equivalent to a 32 HP gain. From the same
example, shaving 15 lbs of non-rotating weight from the engine
would only be equivalent to a 2 HP gain.

In a reply to my question about horsepower from blocks, GOSFAST
reports that he has observed that, relative to OEM blocks,
.

 

there are many places on production blocks that can be trimmed wothout significantly affecting the blocks structural rigidity, such as the fuelpump boss, and many other casting protrusions that offer no real benefit to the blocks total rigidity...

as for reducing rotating/reciprocating mass, it seems to help cars that road course race, more so than drag racing... i`ve seen many people install light flywheels, only to mixed results at the drag strip.. from only very small gains, to downright losses....

some of this has to do with the car being more difficult to launch well.
but you also have to understand the that heavier flywheels/rotating mass dont consume, but "store" energy, which must eventually be returned, to be delivered to the tires.
and since during drag racing, the engine is or is almost always under WOT conditions, as engergy is stored by heavier engine rotating mass, as engine speed climbs. but upon an upshift, the engine slows down, and much of the stored energy is released back to the drivetrain.

i`m not saying the reducing engine rotating mass is not benficial in drag racing, only that its more complex, and often not quite as beneficial as some believe it is...
now on other vehicle rotating components, such as wheels/tires, which are continuously accelerating during a drag race, can offer a clear advantage, as they dont return the energy they store until after the pass is complete....

 

Actually I believe the WinBerg cranks are going for more than $2,000. I have a friend who is running one in 358 sbc and it was just over 29 lbs. I have no idea about titanium cranks. I was at PRI in Orlando and talked with a company who was making composite rods and they had titanium, aluminum and 4340 steel so that you could compare the difference. I was BIG time impressed with the weight savings but the cost for the rods was excessive for my personal project.

NitrousSam

 

Pauter Ti rods are made to order. Less than $1,400.







Each ...

.

 

World Products Motown block comes in an aluminum version

http://www.worldcastings.com/prods_pages/86110.htm


You can get Ti rods made by Crower as well. Have a custom titanium exhaust made.

 

I have seen sets of 8 on ebay for $2200
there is a set up there now.

there is a set of eagle TI rods for $2600 as well

 

The World blocks can be bought for less than $3,500, Ohio Crank has titanium rods for $1600 to $1700.

 

Weighed the engine today..

short block, 4" stroke, with cam, timing set/cover(3 piece,heavy) 195
aluminum heads assembled w/rockers 36
Canton road race pan w/pump 29

So ~286 for long block.

The intake is going to be pretty hefty with the TB, fuel rails, injectors. (forgot to do it)

I will try to weigh the 400 iron block short block for comparison soon, it is a little harder to manuever onto a scale, to say the least.