Technical Drill and tap the crank on a 283??

Just run the damn thing Lloyd, don’t need to have a solution looking for a problem.

 

For peace of mind I drilled and tapped both my '57 283 cranks. One using a drill press before assembling the engine. Second one using a fixture with engine in car. Why not add insurance that the damper stays attached. Seems like good insurance that the sheet metal, radiator, etc is protected.

 

.....and lives....

 

Back in the day my B/L had a 63 Chevy that the damper was always coming off ! He would just stop, find the pulley and drive it back on and take off.
Lloyd, if yours drives on easily, I would tap it! Also if you drive it on, you can make a bit that goes in your air hammer and it will drive it on with no damage at all to the thrust bearing.The crank will absorb all of the impacts.









Bones

 

Likely took a lathe to make the drill guide though.

Nice tool to have, especially if you expect to do several crankshafts. Just one person in town needs one.

Lynn

 

I always winced with every blow to drive a damper onto a 283. But, as Squirrel mentioned 2 pages back, it is an inertia lesson! Crank isn't prone to deliver the shock of the hammer impact on the thrust brg., (which is quite large on its thrust surface) but still...
My sister Miki's '40 Deluxe was about to receive the rebuilt 283 I had just finished, but before installing the damper I hesitated. Brother and self stood the finished engine on its '49 Merc pressure plate, nice and flat on a 3/4" ply sheet.
Placed the damper on the crank snout and 3 lb. sledged it on with a short 3" block of hard maple.
(Maple was from my stash of Control Line model airplane motor mount stock!)
I do like the Johnny Gee method, though. Good thinking.

 

Lloyd, a bit of a Pandora's box you've opened! I think @squirrel has pointed out why you would be OK and just do like GM did for so long and drive it on if your parts are all good. You could always use a bit of Loctite if it makes you feel better. I personally am in the camp that if you are going to go ahead and tap it, to do it correctly you should use a guide. About 45 years ago when building and bashing 301s for myself and others I made a drill guide that could be used either on or off the car. Easy to make. The longest operation was doing the keyway broaching so you could use in on the car. I did not drill several of the first 301s built, and despite seeing 7200 RPM frequently never lost a crank hub. I made the tool only after seeing one come off an engine built by someone else. You really don't have anything to worry about. So as Ron Popeil would say, set it (with a hammer) and forget it!

 

There have been lots of good comments and wisdom posted so far .
And I agree with the ones,,,,,,that I feel the same way as,,,,,( hummm,,,,,what does he mean by that ),,,,,LoL.
When I drilled mine,,,it was because I was using a later model full size damper,,,,and I wanted the extra amount of security.

Now,,,,I’m really gonna cause a stir,,,,with this next statement.
This is about to go in another direction entirely .

Back on the first page,,,post 26 by Jim,,,,,,in the second paragraph header.
General Motors called it a Harmonic Balancer,,,in bold letters .
I have seen people berated for using this term ,,,,,LoL.
It doesn’t matter to me ,,,balancer,,,,dampener,,,,who cares .
But I think it is important to recognize that the wheels at GM listed it as such,,,,so can’t we just get along .
I have seen it listed as such on a Goodwrench site listing a late Corvette balancer,,,,,so I guess it’s okay ?
So let’s be friends,,,,and enjoy the hot rods and customs,,,and try to help all the brothers with their problems.

Oh yeah,,,,one more thing ,,,,,,,,,,Freeze plug !
LoL,,,,,I couldn’t help that .

Tommy

 

The guy who wrote the repair manual wrote that, I wonder if the engineers used the same term?

But it is pretty funny!

 

Lol,,,,I was trying to inject humor,,,,,,it seems we all get uptight sometimes.
But,,,,,I do believe the engineers are ,or were ,,pretty much regular guys .
Some of the best engineers made great racers,,,,,,the Ramchargers in particular .
And most of the best,, hi- po parts from the late 60- s or so were developed by racers,,,,Smokey Yunick ,,,among them .
Tommy

 

That’s what I kinda thought, and how I remembered the 235’s I’ve had.
I’d started to describe how I’d do it if needed to be done by hand, then thought I’d lose folks. Lol. Then see @Johnny Gee posted a pic of what I was going to describe making if I was to attempt it with a hand drill.

I don’t know if a 327 is drilled or not, never had one, but back in HS my neighbor had a pretty stout 327 that spent a lot of time north of 6k RPMs.

I don’t have an opinion one way or another on the topic other than to say I’ve made motor mounts out of 1/4th before.

 

[QUOTE="I don’t know if a 327 is drilled or not, never had one, but back in HS my neighbor had a pretty stout 327 that spent a lot of time north of 6k RPMs. /QUOTE]

All of my solid lifter 327 engines had/have the crankshaft snout drilled and tapped for a harmonic damper bolt. Also, all my 300 HP 327's had the bolted dampers. Maybe the lower HP versions did not???

 

Yes, what you say is probably correct......
The thing about the original installations is that both the balancer and the crankshaft were in new and pristine condition. Today, after sixty years, these parts are often not in original condition, and some may not even be OEM.
Having dealt with my share of balancers that were so difficult to remove that you would swear someone loctited them on at the factory, I don't want to make reassembly any more difficult than I have to. Pressing them on provides me with a mechanical advantage, and if I have to clean the surfaces (removing some of the interference fit), I still have the safety of a bolt and washer to help keep it in place. So there is a double benefit to drilling and taping. I get a mechanical advantage without possibly damaging a bearing, and I have the safety of the bolt for retention. I respect the fact that others may prefer the old school way of doing it, and its a matter of choice for each person. Myself, after spending countless hours assembling an engine, I shudder at the thought of hitting it with a hammer.

Besides, having smashed my fingers numerous times with hammers, I know my limitations............

 

Not having the dampener and the big crank pulley hanging off the front of the crank makes a big difference i suppose, not a lot of force pulling on the flush hub and single pulley.

I'm a shit stirring instigator I've asked a lot of questions here and been told that I'm not as smart as the group of engineers that designed this or that, so i guess i had my answer already and didn't even realize it

 

I know a guy, called me up on a saturday nite a few years back said he couldn't get the balancer on, he even left in the freezer since thursday nite and heated the front of the crank with a propane torch. He called to ask if I had a front seal or knew anyone who might since he melted his.....................................................
So I then told him he was suppose to put the engine in the freezer and the hub in the oven.......................but he didn't think his wife was going to let him use the oven for that.
I did eventually tell him to just use a 4X4 and a decent size hammer.

 

Heat it up, beat it on, through a 1/4 in tack weld on it and forget it.

 

Do ya?

 

My boss is reworking a too new Chevy LS engine. For some reason LS Corvettes have earned the rep for having their (keyless) dampers creep to destruction despite an angle torqued M16 bolts ( about 240 lb feet by actual test), and over .0015" interference fit between the crank snout . It is such a problem GM developed a crazy paper thin "friction washer" embedded with diamonds or something to go between the damper and the timing sprocket, and superseded the original damper with a revised part at least once.

The aftermarket also offers kits to install a "pin" axially in the key-less OEM LS damper/crank joint.

Lots of engines, HAMB friendly and much newer, get along just fine with slip fit dampers and large bolts torqued mighty tight. Maybe some have bigger Ø damper seal diameter than an iron SBC.

For my money powerful axial clamping (crank bolt) with carefully detailed flat, smooth faying/mating surfaces is the way to go. First for resisting torque variations, and second to make the cranks snout act like it is about .5" bigger and thus much better able to resist bending forces from belt pull etc.

 

Another reason not to buy an Ls.....(puke)....

 

Most people don't know this but Michael Jackson was a hot rodder. One night him and his entourage came across this very same problem. Deciding on how to install the hub on an old 283.
Well thats how they came up with the song "Beat it". That being the case, you should just go ahead and beat it, just beat it!

 

I drilled and tapped a 235 crank with the engine togather,just stuffed paper towels around the crank to keep shavings from getting in. I like the idea of it having a bolt and not having to hammer the balancer on.

 

I'd use a good quality (OSG) 3 flute 7/16-20 spiral din tap on the threads....
And tapping oil....

 

"You'll damage your thrust bearing"

"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction"

"A body at rest tents to stay at rest"

So, how much of a blow does the bearing really receive?

 

Johnny, smack that end ball and lets see. LOL

 

Here's an OSG tap.... Same style of tap that we use in our cnc machining centers at work.... These work like a charm....
We also use these for bottom tapping...

 

This thread is like the Energizer Bunny.

Pat

 

If I were going to drill on an assembled engine or in the car I would pull the plugs and spin it with the starter while drilling at least the pilot hole.

 

Yes, my wife has explained them to me very thoroughly on numerous occasions...........

 

I say drill and tap it BUT still drive it on....that way everyone is happy

 

This may be the best advise yet.