Hot Rods Crank machining question

I recently bought a 331 Hemi in bits that has been brought into NZ from the U.S. The crank has stamped on the first counter weight: NM 0439 S & G ONLY NUMBER 4 RJ. I am guessing NM is the shop and 0439 is a job number but what does S & G mean ?

 

Look on one of the counterweight throws. You should find a 7 digit number there. This number is the factory number. Specs can be found for this crank with this number. Maybe use the Hot Hemi Heads website.

 

I have seen this once before on a rebuilder engine. S&G ONLY NUMBER 4RJ means Standard and Ground only on the fourth Rod Journal. It was there to tell the assembler which bearings to use. There were some low budget commercial engine rebuilders who would only grind the single bad journal.

 

Since you bought the engine in 'bits' then you need to check the crank forging number and verify it is for the year of block. There are two versions of the 331 crank and they will cause you some grief if swapped into the opposite block.
This was covered in the HemiTech series some years back.

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NE551678 block 1619647 crank (354) ?All the bearings that were in the pile are 010.

 

Probably ground more than once.

 

And how do the journals measure?
My guess is that it came from the factory with #4 RJ under size, maybe only .001" or so. Many engines were 'salvaged' like this in the old days.

Try this one:
BBC with cam bearings that had a larger O.D. than standard. So you are rebuilding this engine and the replacement bearings fall through the holes in the block. You can't by the correct ones. Now, you dig through the trash and reinstall the old bearings. Fortunately, the guy that took them out didn't hurt them.