'70 Nova V/SA to F/SA Makeover

[Doug Hoven]

I've come to learn that sometimes ignorance is bliss. When I "threw" my engine back together in July, it was found that my brand new Eagle crank was off .009 in the middle journal due to the spun rod bearing and all that extra heat and friction. Luckily for me there was a steel GM crank that was recently in an engine that ended up expiring due to other issues. Got some .020 under rod and main bearings, which was difficult in a hurry, and slapped it back together after cleaning the "trash" out of the block the best we could. Well, I decided that I would have the crank balanced before putting it back together this year. Set up the bob weights, and found that the way I was running the crank was 80 grams underbalanced. Funny enough the engine didn't vibrate one bit the way it was. At that point I decided that I wasn't going to put that kind of effort and money in a 50 year old crankshaft, and "sprung" for another cast Eagle crank like I had initially.