At what point does the crankshaft need to be 4340 forged ?I mean, I know they are stronger but, will they last longer ? If a person never sprays over a 200 shot on the juice and doesn't make but 500 - 550 hp n/a will the 4340 crank be that much better than a cast steel crank for the extra $400 - $500 ? Especially for a car that will only see the track 5 or 6 times a year ?

Thanks

 

Sorry I can't give a descent answer. But from what I thought, HP does have something to do with this, but I also heard that the rpms you are going to turn are another determining factor. Some others with more knowledge should chime in anytime. I'm interested as I am pulling my motor right now and am gonna rebuild it, under supervision. I am planning on having my stock crank turned .010. And building a 355 to spray a max 200 shot and eventually in the far future a supercharger (not with nitrous).

Z

 

Wow, someone that has been a member longer than me....with fewer posts than I. lol

That's what I was waiting for was some of the more knowlegable (sp ?) people to chime in. For some reason every other time I post here, it seems as if I either catch people at the wrong time or anyone who does know the answer is not on the board and my questions get drowned out. Oh well at least I'm not alone.

 

The stock crankshaft is a very strong piece. I thing most people use aftermarket forged ones for piece of mind. I read an article in carcraft about this 10 sec nova car club. They were all using 200+ shots of n2o on sbcs, the thing i noticed was that they were getting used cranks out of lt1s cause they were cheap and are really strong. I would go for a forged if i was turning over 7k rpms or pushing some high psi forced induction. Stock rods and pistons on the other hand.....

 

For some reason I didn't even log onto the board for about a year, and all of my posts were deleted. Boo hoo. hehe. I've got car problems right now and am rebuilding, so I am more active. I guess after I get her fixed, I will lose another 150 posts. Hopefuly I will stay active.

But thats what I gathered from our cranks, they are pretty good as long as you don't spin them high. Strret/strip, I say keep he stock crank. All out race, upgrade the crank.

Z

 

Thanks for the info guys. Maybe I'll just do a 355 for now and save up my money for an all out 396 later on down the road.

L8R