Can the crank be welded and ground back to standard successfully? Or is the scatt crank the only alternative?
I would not want to risk welding a crank. There are still useable Ford cranks out there, so a SKAT crank is not the only alternative, but it will be the best crank available, but pricy.
Norm
I have lots of magnafluxed cranks in my parts department, from the diamond shaped, to the later ones, to EE's. They will need to be ground to undersize, but I am sure there are thousands of T's running with undersized cranks.
I've heard of spray welding crank journals up to size. Not so common on T cranks as the flex tends to crack the weld at the radii. I ran a crank that was welded up (not spray welded) and reground to standard. Worked fine, never a problem. Its a good idea if you have a 09-10 block without babbitt in the block saddles and want to keep things original.
Lets talk about the scat crank, is the crank noticeably smoother? 4 cylinder engines,are inhearently viberators. Even my 04 tdi vw has balance shafts to help with vibrations. I know that just balancing an engine does dampen vibrations, but they are still quite noticeable. I have no experience with the benefits of the scat crank.
John a good topic for another thread.
I'm running one of Bill Dubats fully counterbalanced crankshafts and really like it.
I believe it is much stronger. I think it is equal to or better than the Scat. Of course I balanced everything else when I installed so it wasn't a fair comparison.
We have a club member that spray weld cranks but mostly for racing engines. Electronic Chrome and Grinding, Santa Fe Springs Ca. Very expensive I think.
Another option is to hard chrome the journals and then re-grind them.
Crankshaft grind- $135.00
Rebabbit mains and rods- $590.00
_________
Total- $725.00
Stock crankshaft $1400.00-$1600.00
I have a Model A crank that is modified for a T engine. The mains and rod journals have been ground. Would sell the crank and 4 model A rods for $400.00 .....you pay shipping.
Even with this crank/rods....there is still a lot of work and expense making it all work. The A crank is not counter balanced.
Send me an e-mail if interested. I live in Fallbrook, Ca.
A retired machinist i know used to weld up undersize journals and grind them back to standard every day, Not sure if any were T cranks but i don't think they are of such exotic metal that another metal would not adhere/meld well enough to work for most people.
I'm running a SCAT counterbalanced crank in my '26. Yes, it was expensive. But since I wanted a rebuilt engine that I didn't have to touch (besides adjustments) down the road, I swallowed hard and choked up the cash. Bill Dubats' crank is another great option. Again, not cheap. But when you add up all the other things you put into a quality rebuild, why pinch pennies on the most crucial component? By the way, the engine runs incredibly smooth at all rpm's.
Years ago Bob Plegge told me he welded up the crankshaft and turned it to 10 thousand over size then poured his babbit to fit. as far as I know he never had any problems. Welding or spraying the crankshaft has been done for years with little problems.
Thanks for the comments, I bit the bullet and purchased a new scat crank, new babbited rods, high compression pistons stainless valves, adjustable lifters, and a nylon cam gear. $2,400 in parts so far. I finally did get a price on getting the crank welded and ground $ 450 one of the problems is a friend of mine has had an engine at the machine shop for a year and it hasn't been touched!!I hope to achieve similar results as Kevin. This for Dad for Christmas.:<)
John, if you are going to use a Nylon, or a fiber cam gear, you better carry a spare and all the tools to change them!
Herm.
Kohnke I have never run anything but Fiber or Nylon cam gear. I haven not had a failure in over 95,000 miles.
P.s. I do carry a spare.
I have lots of good used stock cranks for sale And rods someone tell me a good price California best to email me I'll send pictures
If you run a stock set up with a pre generator car, fibre gears are fine. One plus is they make fibre gears in a couple oversizes if the distance between the two timing gears is a bit excessive. That can happen with a new Babbitt job that is a bit off or if you scrape the mains in the block.
Again if he is still open or doing business... Homer Bracket (SC???) submerge welded up several of my old T cranks. He straightens them and then turns them back down. I had a few T engines with worn oversized babbitt. .003 or close. Otherwise good original babbitt. Line honed these to clean it up and he ground the cranks oversized, + .006. they ran strong and for years. So it IS done. And it worked.
I have a spray torch for a lathe to spray the cranks but they peel if you don't get the proper preheat and they first have to be turned down at least .010".
Dean
Like you I have run many thousands of miles on fibre cam gears. The "trick" I guess, is it does require precise gear mesh. Not hard if you set your line bore up to have 100mm spacing for the crank-cam and then fit the generator for correct mesh as well
Does anyone else remember the hot rodders welding up the throws on cranks and then grinding them off center to make stroker cranks back in the '50s-'60s(and probably sooner, but that was before my time)? I remember reading in all of the rodder magazines back then about how they did it. Always seemed to me that they would be prone to cracking/breaking, but a lot were done that way. Don't have any idea as to how well they survived, but that was the norm back then. Dave
In response to David's comment...yes, I remember building *stroker* cranks by TIG welding up one side of the rod journals and grinding to the new center. I had one(3/8")in my '57 Chev which increased the displacement from 283 cu.in. to 339 cu.in. This included a 1/8" bore. Worked fine back in 1958...was my daily driver car for several years...and some racing too.
John, the articles I remember(scarey)showed the journals welded up with what appeared to be a stick welder. Could well be wrong though. Dave