I think you mean HTC = Hank the Crank

 

Notice in the top pic. See the heat and discoloration. That is from having the heavy metal slug tack welded in. Eagel drilled a lightening hole in the end of the throw then drilled the cross hole and pressed in the slug. The crank was really thin where they did this and the trow was cracked on the outer edge where it is thin. I had the machine shop tack it for obvious reasons. If you notice in the top pic that the throw is kinda notched shaped. That is because Eagle cut the throw down to clear the piston with a lathe using a live head. An end mill basically. Or they used a 4th or 5th axis mill and didn't have enough movement to go all the way around in one pass. The pisser of this is they didn't have the proper radius entered in thus it cut it unevenly when they made their two passes. The high spots on either side of the divot is where the clearence issues mainly were. If they would have machined it properly there wouldn't have been any clearence issues. Whoever did this at eagle must have been drunk! The slug issues on the other end is just like the front, cross ways through a lightening hole and cracked. That is the crappiest work I've seen from Eagle or any crank company.

 

Callies cranks are made in Ohio btw.

Here's a link to the racemaster crank in their catalogue : http://www.callies.com/catalog/cranks/racemaster.html

This is my crank with part number:
Callies LS1 Racemaster crank (AP031V-RM) :
~ 4" stroke
~ 4340 forging
~ Perma-Tough heat treated
~ Angalite drilled rod journals
~ weight ~= 52lbs

 

machined or forged in ohio(or US) ? Seems to be very little confirmation of made in the USA out there with regards to forged cranks, with the exception of billet steel anyway. Figured you might have an inside line

 

From what I've been told by two different people (Nick from the now defunct APE, and a local engine builder), forged and machined in the same plant. Dunno if those guys knew for sure...

Here's the official snippet:

"Our precise, no compromise production efforts deliver the crankshaft quality you are looking for. Starting with the purest 4340 material and machined to the most exacting standards our cranks offer exceptional value to your racing program."

 

Costly mistake letting it go out the door in that condition. Bet they never thought their crappy work would be seen the world over by god-knows how many gear heads. I"m sure that NONE of us will EVER look at buying an Eagle crank after this.

 

I've seen many good cranks from Eagle and have used one myself. When you are building an engine that pushes the envelope like this one, there has to be extra attention paid that Eagle and many others are not used to. They simply don't on their production parts simply because they can't afford to due to keeping cost down. Now if you paid the bucks for Eagle to custom build an engine for you, i'd imagine you'd see something different. Eagle has used JE for years but just to give them a little bit of credit, the pistons were ordered from JE and didn't pass through Eagle's hands. Nevertheless, they should have cleared.

 

Bottom line, if you've got the money, pay for a quality piece. The funny thing is 10 years ago the custom fit an fab was normal. The age of CNC has changed that.

 

Crankshafts hitting the bottom of the pistons is nothing new to us. Five years ago the first few aftermarket cranks that were being produced for LS1's had issues with the very same thing. Even a couple of years ago, we saw several cranks from a few of the now popular crank manufacturers suffer similar problems. We've also seen cranks hit the bottom of the pistons as far away from bottom dead center as 35º. Apparently the cam profile on the counterweights were not accurately machined. Measuring the crank/piston clearance at bottom dead center isn't enough. It requires inspecting the clearance at least 40º before and after bdc. Then there's the piston manufacturers that forget to give you a piston that has a notch to clear the reluctor wheels. but that's an issue for another time..............
The welding fix as pictured above may not win any appearance awards, but it looks like a sound fix and is similar to cranks I have welded for the balancing shop next door. Good job guys.

Richard

 

I had a couple Eagle cranks with pilot bearing bores too big. Not a big deal for auto tranny vehicles but worthless for manual cars. Ya get what you paid for... cheap cranks... strong as hell, but then again so are stock cranks... sometimes ya need to go through a couple to get everything right. FWIW, Eagle replaced the cranks through my engine builder... no questions asked.