Feedback on 348 to 434 build plan

[303Radar]

Regarding Bob Walla heads and pricing.
There are two reasons I encourage individuals to contact Bob directly for pricing regarding his heads.
One, he is a great guy to talk with directly.
The other is, I am not privy to what he charges or why. Perhaps he charges a personality tax to individuals or he has raw material price fluctuations or one configuration costs different than another or one person gets lucky and it happens to be as close to a clearance sale as Bob is able to do.
My main point is, I don't want to commit a nice and honest businessman to a price I don't have control over.

Also, what one person pays versus another should seldomnly be a pissing contest as to who got the better deal. When it comes to dealing with a bigger retailer, yes I want to know if Rock Auto has better pricing than Jegs or someone hit a better/different sales price. However, when it comes to a small shop supporting a hobby industry and is able to compete better than a big name, it isn't important who got the better deal.

 

[Carmine]

What I find amazing from reading these threads, is that even though you would buy a brand new crankshaft, there were problems with the fit. Some machining would have to be done at times. I would have never thought that. Guess I got lucky with my 454 crank that I bought used from the machine shop. He never said nothing about machining it.
Just a quick comment about Radars thread. I would never buy Edelbrocks aluminum heads again. Period. When I bought mine, I didn't know another source existed. Not sure they cost more, even so, I would buy from Bob Walla, Carmine.

 

[Phil Reed]

Regarding Bob Walla heads and pricing.
There are two reasons I encourage individuals to contact Bob directly for pricing regarding his heads.
One, he is a great guy to talk with directly.
The other is, I am not privy to what he charges or why. Perhaps he charges a personality tax to individuals or he has raw material price fluctuations or one configuration costs different than another or one person gets lucky and it happens to be as close to a clearance sale as Bob is able to do.
My main point is, I don't want to commit a nice and honest businessman to a price I don't have control over.

Also, what one person pays versus another should seldomnly be a pissing contest as to who got the better deal. When it comes to dealing with a bigger retailer, yes I want to know if Rock Auto has better pricing than Jegs or someone hit a better/different sales price. However, when it comes to a small shop supporting a hobby industry and is able to compete better than a big name, it isn't important who got the better deal.

RIGHT ON!!!!!!!!!

 

[Don Jacks]

As early as just a few years ago the aftermarket cranks had issues with taper,run out.When buying a new crank,it was often found that the rod journals had to be cut .010 to correct these parts,in fact some vendors even sold the cranks with that already done.I don't know if these errors have corrected lately,so the moral of this is too order the crank,have it checked out[measured],then order the bearings.

 

[AK-Guy]

I went with a 4" SCAT crank on my 348 build. With the SCAT 'zero clearance' I-beam rods, the cranks and rods were a drop in fit to the block (no block work on the bottom half except for the 4-bolt mains). You can get the rods from Show-Cars - I paid $339 a couple of years ago. The only issue I have with the crank is it needed to be internal balanced. As you will see in the pix, I had the machine shop install heavy metal to true it up. Last item, the slot in the snout on the SCAT crank is out by 10 degrees, but Show-Cars sells a timing tab that compensates for the difference. Hope this helps in your decision making process on your 434 build.

 

[Barry Taylor]

Nice build AK. Heavy metal isn't cheap. No shortcuts here. BT

 

[skipxt4]

Looks awesome AK. Who makes, the 4 Bolt Main Caps?

 

[AK-Guy]

Pro gram out of California. Sells straight or angled and either center 3 or all 5 caps (your choice). Cost me $400.

 

[skipxt4]

Thank You.

 

[Don Jacks]

Do you happen to have the part number on the 5 cap set? I went to their website,but it wasn't helpful.

 

[AK-Guy]

When I called Pro Gram and talked to the owner, he offered me a 5 cap set (was really pushing it at the time). I didn't know Pro Gram had a web site; I just looked up the number on the web and called the company. I'd have to look in my notes to see if I wrote down his name.

 

[Skip FIx]

As early as just a few years ago the aftermarket cranks had issues with taper,run out.When buying a new crank,it was often found that the rod journals had to be cut .010 to correct these parts,in fact some vendors even sold the cranks with that already done.I don't know if these errors have corrected lately,so the moral of this is too order the crank,have it checked out[measured],then order the bearings.

My Eagle 4" 409 crank had such bad taper we had to turn it. I know many of the various Pontiac aftermarket cranks also had issues. My Ohio billet Pontiac crank had oversized filets hitting the bearings requiring it to be turned also. Mahle now make some bearing cut for that for many engines.

Be sure to check it BEFORE you have it balanced in case it is so bad you want to sent it back. And welding or new holes will void a swap out.