Pipe wrenched crank! (My $50 SBC find)

Looks like my cheapo garage sale SBC was the victim of a plumber who thought he was a mechanic-there are multiple pipe-wrench marks on the crank snout. The balancer was a little hard to get off, but it DID have to go on when the engine was assembled.

I suppose I COULD press it back on, but I'm a little concerned about the condition of both the balancer and the crank. A guy that would use a pipe wrench to turn over the motor would probably use a BFH to pound the balancer on.

Is there a fix, is the crank toast, or do I just press the balancer back on over the wrench marks and not worry about it?

 

I'd polish the marks with a mill file lightly and install with a smear of silicone sealant and then use a BFH to reinstall the balancer just like millions of other SBC

 

there is no shortage of sbc cranks. just get another crank. hell if you were closer I would just give ya one..

 

Or take it to a local machine shop and just have them polish it on the lathe real quick.

 

Uh uh uh, just cause it's got pipe wrench marks on it don't mean a plumbero did it. We no likey to scratch the crank snout, we uses the pullers and the special tools for holding las flywheels. We wears the white gloves in the ladies house and the shoes buddies and makes all the chromes all mas shinies and muchos dazzlings. Only thing me scratches is me own hackey sax.

 

McCord (and others) sell a crank repair sleeve. It's a thin metal sleeve which fits tightly over the crank nose to give the seal a smooth surface to ride against. Usually sold to people who have a grooved snout caused by the seal wearing a groove in it.

 

Espo 35 is right and the sleeve kit works well. try to get one. If I remember correctly it gets installed with an anaerobic sealant and it hold strong. Good luck.

 

PLUMBERS get all the turd work

 

That seal goes on the vibration damper-harmonic balancer which fits into the timing cover seal. You could probably save the crank snout with strips of emery cloth like you are shining shoes. You don't have to hammer it on, just get a new harmonic balancer retaining bolt and washer and tighten it on with that.

 

Hhahahahahah

 

I want to say my 406 has a can on it's snout. Works great.

And as far as installing dampers goes, I think that I used a prick punch to divot my ol' junk301's forged crank snout to help hold it's wore out damper on. It got to the point that my fan belt was actually holding it on.

I do know that the 2nd damper I put on it that was off a junk engine fit tighter, He, He!

And to think up about 7,500 rpm with new points in 1st and 2nd gear many, many times......

pdq67

 

If the damper was hard to remove, and you have a bolt holding it on (drill the crank if it was not drilled already), and it's not a high rpm engine or one that you're expecting to last forever, you will probably be ok to run it as is.

Of course the "correct" fix is to replace the crank. I don't know how into "correct" you are, or how deep your pockets are.

 

Quit whining and use the darn thing. It wont cause any problems.
Don

 

What does the rest of the motor look like ?

 

Sometimes that will strip the crank threads. A harmonic balancer installer is pretty cheap tool.

I have a pipe wrenched crank too. I smoothed it with a file and have had zero problems. Yet.

 

Guess I should have mentioned it's a LJ 327-not so easy to find as a 350 crank these days. Thanks for the kind offer, if I was closer I'd take you up on it!

 

It looks like it was a low-mile rebuild that was running when it was pulled. I haven't dropped the pan yet, but it's been bored .040 over and has cast pistons. Bores are good-no ridge and a few very small flash rust spots from condensation-nothing that a light hone and fresh rings won't fix. Heads are fresh-looking 882's, so it ought to run OK on the swill that passes for gasoline these days.

 

I'll be using it for a low-rpm truck motor to replace the tired 283 in my 64 Chevy (for now) but I'd like to add some 461's, a hot cam, and use it for a street/strip motor in a different project at some future point.

I'm into "correct" enough that I'd like to keep it a LJ 327, but not so "correct" that I wouldn't hide a 350 crank and pistons inside a LJ 327 block. My pockets are deep enough, I guess. The problem I have is that they're EMPTY!

 

The timing cover seal on a SBC rides on the damper, not the crank. I've seen the seal/sleeve kits for the balancer, I've never heard anything about one for the crank.

 

You couldn't get the dampener on with a sleeve on the end of the crank. That's why you have never heard of one. You did use a puller to pull the dampener off and not a hammer?

It will probably be fine as is but if you are hell bent on fixing it for the sake of knowing it's fixed you could probably have a machine shop metal spray that end of the crank and turn it back to factory specs. I wouldn't get carried away with polishing the marks off as you may do more bad than good and end up with a loose dampener.

 

knock off the high spots with a file, emery smooth and install hub with a dab of Loctite bearing retainer, torque the bolt, good to go.

 

Kinda what I was thinking

Yup, not gonna hammer it on, either.

That sounds like it would cost more than a cast 327 crank is worth-probably would be better off saving my money up and buying a 350 crank and new pistons.

Thanks! I will definitely go easy on the filing and polishing.

I appreciate all the suggestions so far. Even the smart-ass comments from el plumbero.

Next queston: Should I replace the damper? The rubber is a little cracked and it DOES have lots of hammer marks from being pounded onto the crank.

 

With the cracks in the rubber and the hammer marks I would advise replacing the balancer if you can afford it.

 

we have a winner!
and yes, replace the dampner. not only is the cracked rubber a sure sign of immenent failure, but chances are pretty good your timing is off by more than a little bit, too. Pioneer makes a nice inexpensive "locked" one that you can generally get through jegs or scummit.

 

So, here's a new twist. I finally got a chance to get into the shop for a few minutes today. I pulled the timing cover and the cam sprocket, and there were NO PLUGS in the front of the oil galley! Betcha this lump didn't run very well (or very long) without them. Cam bearings are TOASTED, but, oddly, the cam itself looks like it suffered no damage at all. The Mad Plumber strikes again! Wonder what I'll find when I pull the rod caps????

 

I just read everyones remarks and was about to say just put on a new/better used damper but now it sounds like you should just go through the whole engine. Just check everything out and reuse what you can, if you want another LJ327 crank I've got a $#!+ load of them you pay for the shipping and I'll send you one.

 

Based upon your last post racer32, I am agreeing with mctim64 now. I think peace of mind demands a complete teardown. Bummer

 

Yup, been doing just that. Pistons and rods are out. When I get tehm loaded onto my computer I'll post up some pics of what I've found so far. I may be needing that crank from mctim64-the rods bearings didn't look so good. The bores are OK, but one of the pistons has a stuck ring and another has some scratching/scuffing. Now that all the pistons are out the crank spins fine.

 

http://microsleeve.com/pdf/MS_Catalog06.pdf

see page 4 of pdf file.

 

Those are the oversize sleeve seal kits for the harmonic balancer. It covers the outer surface of the harmonic balancer if there's a groove worn in it.



The LJ SBC crank has two woodruff keys on it-one for the balancer and one for the lower timing gears. The part # for the balancer sleeve, 228, doesn't have any slots in it. No way it'll work on the crank!

This pic is of a rebranded Microsleeve balancer seal sleeve from Enginetech (sorry, couldn't find a pic of the MS228):