Technical Drill and tap the crank on a 283??

Not a very big hammer...

 

I've been running the 283 in my '34 for 39 years. There is no need to drill the crank. All you need is a hammer and a good solid 2x4 or something similar.

 

One swing. BAM!!!

 

If it was my over expensive new thrust bearing I would place the new rebuilt engine between something like on the floor of some steel trailer with sidewalls and use a hydraulic jack and some blocks and not put the pressure on the new overpriced thrust bearing . Maybe find a press to do the job. Or weld up a quick frame and a hydraulic jack presto no damage-0 -

 

I would.

 

Lloyd, you do know the definition of what a buddy is?

 

I'm thinking it may depend on the balancer. I had a 283 with a balancer from a 350 just because I had one and I liked the looks of it. Threw it off at about 5000 rpm one day. Fortunately missed the radiator.

Also had a large journal 327 with a 350 balancer. Drove to a show about 3 hours away. Balancer ate out the keyway in the crank snout. Had to change cranks. Yes I drilled it.

Not much cost involved to take away the angst.

.bjb

 

the 283 had a pretty small hub, the 350 had a pretty large damper...Chevy bolted the damper on the 350s....but not the 283. Think about it.

 

In the late 70's after school I was working in a local garage. A customer came pulling his wife's impala station wagon in. The wagon was a very nice all original car. The harmonic balancer came off and destroyed the radiator, shroud and fan. I installed the new balancer and then head mechanic came over dragging his welder and welded the balancer to the crank. The car ran like that for several years.

 

I had one come off once but the car had a McCulloch blower on it.

I got lucky and I was two blocks from home and it didn’t mess anything up.

The cost of the drill, tap, bolt and washer were cheap. I’d do it on anything that doesn’t have one.

 

I don't think it has been mentioned but the bolt is 7/16'' UNF. JW

 

If that were me I would drill and tap it for peace of mind, what have you got to lose.

 

How much “straight” hole is in the end of the crankshaft? Never really looked into doing it on the 283’s (2) that I had.

 

Of a HAMBer hits a crank balancer with a hammer late at knight and nobody’s there to hear it does it make a sound?

 

Many years ago a friend had his balancer fall off. Mild SBC in a Graffiti clone (crank/water pump/alt ... one belt). Several years later I was assembling a SBC for myself and found the crank was not drilled/threaded. Engine was already together before I realized it wasn't drilled. I measured the depth of the hole on a drilled crank I had laying around, grabbed my electric drill and drilled the crank free-hand. The crank was dimpled on the end so finding center was simple. Tapped some threads, installed the bolt using Loctite and never had an issue. I just wasn't comfortable hammering on a balancer (I had done that in the past but I didn't like it) and I wasn't comfortable knowing they can and just might fall off without a retaining bolt.

The friend? He drilled his crank before reinstalling his balancer.

 

Just for peace of mind, I drilled & tap mine. No worry about it coming off and going into
an expensive Walker radiator .

 

The drilling and tapping should be done on a lathe with a steady rest.....

 

There you go…it ran god only knows how long without the bolt but if you don’t put one it it’s going to fly off and destroy your car. You have to drill it to install the crank hub, even though GM says hammer it on, you will destroy the thrust bearing if you don’t.
Clearly you have to drill and tap the end of the crank to unlock the secrets of the universe. I can’t wait to find out if the earth is actually flat, or if aliens are real, or if there was a second gunman on the grassy knoll, and most importantly….how do they get the caramel in a caramilk bar?

 

I had to do it for a blower hub, Many moon's ago, short block, on the stand...
7400 rpm, never let go...

 

It's like chicken soup, it can't hurt!

Pat

 

If this discussion were about a Ford, nearly everyone would be in the "no bolt" camp because "That's the way Henry did it, so it must be faultless!".

I recently assembled a 283, didn't drill and tap a hole in the crankshaft snout, and drove the HB on with a hammer and a block of wood.

Lynn

 

no straight hole, just a dimple.

And yes, the hole on the later cranks is drilled and tapped 7/16 fine thread.

If you want to get the hole perfectly straight, put the crank in a lathe to drill it. If you just want to hold the hub or damper on, you don't need to get that fancy.

If you plan to rev the engine pretty high, or later add AC or a blower, or if the crank snout it damaged from having it come off before, then you should probably drill it. None of this applies to the case of the guy who asked the question in the first post.

 

when i nod my head, hit it with this hammer

 

I respectfully disagree. It CAN be done on lathe but it doesn't HAVE to be done on a lathe. The bolt and washer are simply there to prevent the balancer from sliding off the crank. Proof of the bolt and washer not being critical is the fact that a person can run a balancer and crank without a bolt and washer with the only risk being the possibility of the balancer sliding off.

As for using an installation tool and a hand drilled and tapped crank snout ... if the hole is not in perfect alignment with the crank (drilled by hand without the use of a jig or a lathe) the force on the balancer (during installation) will obviously not be in perfect alignment with the crank BUT, I would argue that pounding a balancer on with a hammer and a block of wood is definitely not putting force that is always perfectly in alignment with the crank. As stated earlier, I didn't make a jig, I drilled by hand using only my eyes and the dimple as a guide and it worked perfectly fine.

 

Who needs a lathe?

 

While there are lots of them out there that work well after being assembled by the hammer method, you have to ask yourself why they changed how they do it. While it may prove satisfactory, I can't imagine that avoiding hammering it against the thrust bearing isn't a better way. The hole doesn't have to be perfectly centered as long as you don't totally screw it up. For all the money and time it takes to build and assemble an engine, I would prefer not to beat the balancer onto the crank, but thats just my opinion.

 

I've outlined the reasons a few times already...but I also forgot to mention that they went to a long water pump in 1969 on most of them, which moved the belt load out a couple inches, which makes it almost necessary to add the bolt.

I don't recall chevy ever issuing a TSB that suggested drilling and bolting the dampers on all those old 283s. But maybe I missed it.

 

I have drilled a few. Neighbor had a good running 327 in his off road Jeep. Balancer came off a couple of times. Bought it for $300, drilled and bolted crank. Put in a 40 coupe--never a problem again.

 

This is the exact year of 307 I mentioned earlier in this thread. 200 HP power glide car with power steering. But it didn't fall under the "almost necessary" according to GM at the time. Even though it had a long pump with deep double crank pulley the dampener was tiny like that of a 283.

 

you can drill and tap the crankshaft OR drive it on with a hammer and block of wood......it will make no difference in my life. do what makes you feel good .i see no sense in arguing about it

i made my own fixture and i drill and tap

several companies offer a fixture , here is one of them: https://www.12bolt.com/store/p164/C...olt-283-327-250-235-261-230-215-194-Tool.html