My crank grinder is excellent. But he's also lazy, and didn't want to widen the crank. He said it would take too long. So I found an old racer named Bill Jones who would reduce the rods and bearings for $120. But because he knows the crank grinder he called him and asked if he'd at least take out the thrust plate on the rod journals.



My grinder felt like that was an acceptable compromise, so I get a little of both worlds. An offset ground crank with the thrust pads ground out. And a reduced width small journal Chevy rod. I'm waiting on bearings right now, but as soon as they're in I'll have Bill finish the prep work on the rods and bearings, and then go mock 'em up! I should post some pics for peeps who haven't seen this work done before. Peeps like myself two weeks ago!

Heber City, UT (15 mins outside of Park City- basically it's in the mountains)

55 Effie

There is enough material but you can run into the oil holes on EC (292 cast) cranks. We only widen EC cranks to a 1.850" journal. A Scrub rod needs 1.900" so we still have to narrow rods .025" but thats a lot better than narrowing them .070" if the journal is stock width of 1.760" as I recall. Some EC cranks will go 1.900", some won't.

If your crank grinder is on the ball he can index the crank a few degrees and reduce the chance of hitting an oil hole. This will throw off your cam a few degrees but since you're building a really good engine you will be degreeing the cam and using an indexable timing set so everything can be corrected later. Right?

We always need to add weight to the counterweights to balance.

http://ford-y-block.com 

20 miles east of San Diego, 20 miles north of Mexico

so there is enough meat in the counterweights to widen the rod journals out to the right width? What would this do as far as crankshaft balance if say you took a standard 292 crank and offset ground it to 2.000 journal size? i realize these are dumb questions but i would really like to get the most out of my 292 so im trying to learn.

John is correct. Clevite sells hardened and narrowed bearings for performance use with HN suffix. It is much easier to assemble engine if you can talk the crank grinder into widening the rod journals but many won't do it.

The alternative is to narrow the rods and you will probably need to narrow the bearings more. You can make a bearing holding fixture out of an old scrub rod. Cut off all but the big end. Hold what is left by the inside in a lathe. Machine enough of a register on the outside so you can hold the outside in a lathe chuck. Unbolt the 2 halves and put a pair of bearings in the fixture, grab the outside in the chuck and cut a 45 degree bevel on the inside of the bearings. Yes you will be cutting into the babbit and the steel. Sounds like fun? Repeat 7 more times. Then narrow the rods, either with a surface grinder on in a lathe if you have one big enough to swing a connecting rod.

If this sounds like a royal pain in the backside, trust me, IT IS!

It's worth the effort to find a crank grinder who isn't lazy.

http://ford-y-block.com 

20 miles east of San Diego, 20 miles north of Mexico

I believe it is Clevite that makes narrow sbc bearings to use with large radii on the crank journals.  My crank grinder told me that, and I think he handles Clevite.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

So this is probably a really dumb question but when doing these stroker set ups with smaller rod journals and all what bearing do you guys use. Y-block ones obviously wont work but the chevy ones for the rods used are too wide aren't they. Do you guys just grind some off the side of the bearing to make it work (sounds sketchy to me) or is there a company that makes narrower bearings in the 2.000 and 2.100 rod journal sizes??

Compression ht is 1.820".

http://ford-y-block.com 

20 miles east of San Diego, 20 miles north of Mexico

What is the compression height on your pistons John? I'll probably order a set next week sometime. Thanks, Ryan

Heber City, UT (15 mins outside of Park City- basically it's in the mountains)

55 Effie

I have the 3.820" pistons you need, or will as soon as I re-order. I have 3.830, 3.840 and 3.860" on the shelf. We use 6.125" rods, .927" pin, 2.00 journal.

http://ford-y-block.com 

20 miles east of San Diego, 20 miles north of Mexico

So, I'm kind of at a loss as to how I'm going to get all of this together. Everyone here says take the crank out to a 2.00" rod journal size to increase the stroke out to roughly 3.618-3.620 if an inch. My crank is currently being ground now, so I'll know exactly what my stroke will be hopefully by the beginning of next week. I'm also having him machine the counterweights to widen the journal width to accept aftermarket rods (With a nice big radius of course).



But, I've got a little conundrum. The deck height is going to come in around 9.775". The stroke is roughly 3.618. I found SRP Pinto pistons that will work with the bore I'm aiming for (either 3.810 or 3.820). The nice thing about the pinto's piston is I can get a Compression Height of 1.590" (but not in the Chevy pin diameter- only in a ford pin diameter). The Chevy diameter pistons come in a lower compression height of 1.090". If we add all of this up, I've got a piston that's WAY IN THE HOLE. (I'm sure someone unfamiliar with engines reading this would get a kick out of that last sentence.... Way in the hole is usually a good thing )



To be exact:

Deck Height= 9.775"

Stroke= 3.618"

Comp Height= 1.590"

Rods= 6.376"



All of these together would require an aftermarket rod measuring 6.376" of an inch!!!!! Eagle makes some long dang rods.... But, they draw the line somewhere! I was planning on a zero deck clearance to increase the compression ratio, but I'm at a loss.



What do the experts use? Am I on track? Or have I wandered deep into the darkness where no man has boldly gone before???



Thanks in advance, the Dawg

Heber City, UT (15 mins outside of Park City- basically it's in the mountains)

55 Effie