My crank arrived from Competition Products today. To ship it they simply threw it in a box and shipped it loose! The box was only large enough for the crank, but it had no support at all. The box was beat to hell. It was ripped open in one spot and the counterweights had worn holes through the cardboard in other spots.

I've always stored my cranks on end or in an engine block. Without loading this thing into my block (it's like 5 below outside) is there any way I can check to see if it is bent? I have a dial indicator and a base for it. I suppose it might just be as easy to load the block with my new bearings and see if it turns smooth.

Even if it turns smooth the snout might be bent. My uncle wrecked his racecar once, and it smashed the lower pulley. We pulled the pulleys and balancer off, and turned the engine over with the starter. You could see the shout of the crank wobbling round and round while it was turning over.

Rich,
Set it in a block with the 2 end bearings and spin it with a dial indicator set up on the middle main journal but ... dont be real surprised if it has a couple of thousanths runout. I bet if you took 50 new GM cranks and checked them, 45 would be bent. I doubt that it got bent in shipping, just about everyone uses the same "lame" shipping boxes and they dont seem to have any problems. Also, GM cranks vary all over the place in both size and stroke. You will probably scare yourself if you take a good micrometer and measure it in about 4 places on each journal. That's why you see so many "select fit" bearings in stock GM motors. If its the GM steel 366/427 crank and you got it for $200, it would be worth having it reground by a good crank grinder to make it right. It's still a bargain even after the additional $160 to grind it.

Just a small tip for any of you who want to ship a crank. Wrap it in plastic, and use an expanding foam (like Mono) in the corners of the box. Don't use too much, as you don't want to rip the box apart :D .

Don't get it on oily parts though. Heard it's really hard to get off after. HTH.

Good to know Bill. If the temps ever get above zero I plan to toss it in the block. A local machine shop has had a few of these cranks and found them to be pretty well done. We'll see if I got lucky or not! I'm going to have it all balanced so I'll have them measure it all up and make a decision then about regrinding it. I already bought bearings and I'll have to open the wrap on the mains to check the crank but even if I have to regrind I could probably find a home for those bearings with all my friends who are building big blocks.