EXTERNAL BALANCING ACT When balancing a crankshaft that has a flexplate or flywheel, make sure it fits snugly and there is no lateral movement. Any play can cause the balance not to repeat when the flex/flywheel has been removed and installed. I like to center them up...
GO OVERSIZE FOR EASE Next time you have set of large journal small block Chevy connecting rods to resize, consider honing the big ends of them for a +.002" outside diameter bearing that the LS engines with fracture cap rods use. You will save yourself a lot of time...
DENT PROTECTION When I straighten a crankshaft that just needs to be polished, I protect the journal surface from the chisel bouncing. Make a pad with a 7 or 8 layers of masking tape and stick it on the journal where you are peening. It protects the journal from the...
APPLY PRESSURE HERE I found myself without a welder to use to remove a check ball staked into the end of an oil passage of a crankshaft. So, I applied a different technique to remove it to clean the crank. I clamped some piece of steel together to form some “Caps”. I...
RECONDITIONING DIESEL CONNECTING RODS The goal when servicing diesel connecting rods is to ensure the full set of rods are straight, on size and of the correct length. They should be machined back to the original OEM specification. Honeable bushings are acceptable if...
LS CRANK I.D. The 5.3l and 6.0l LS engines use the same stroke crankshaft with the same casting number. But the balance is different on the cranks for the different bore size pistons. There is a quick way to determine which crank you have. If you look at the front and...