My local machine shop is of the opinion that Eagle Ls1 cranks are foreign made. Are inferior quality, and the oil passages are not thoroughly machined creating a type of vacuum that pulls oil out of the rod mains at high RPM. I have never heard of anything like this. Has anyone out there heard anything that would lend truth to this, or should I find a new machine shop. I really appreciate the input from you guys (and gals). I'm in the process of building up a 408 and want to do it right. Thanks!!!

 

you really should search this. Lot's of good info on Eagle cranks. I have one in my 383 and have 0 (zero) prolems.

You might want to try and contact one, or more, of the sponsors and get their feed back on Eagle cranks too.

 

Has the shop offered to sell you a more expensive crank?

 

I also have an Eagle crank in my 383 and have had no problems. I remember some members stating Lunati and Callies cranks are overkill for many regular applications.

 

 

The only thing they could be talking about is a cross drilled crank which eagle does sell for the gen1 and 2 type small block. LSx type cranks can not have this done to them for the 1" type hole through the center of them. They are not feeding you crap, that type of problem does exist in those cranks that are cross drilled, and the problems occur way past 6500 and highly recommend not using a crank that is cross drilled. Buy the eagle you will not be dissappointed, nice quality for the price, mine is ready to be installed in our 402 build.

 

Many people keep telling me to not go with the Eagle crank because there is little if any cost savings by the time you're done getting it balanced. I was told to go with the Calies because it only cost a few hundred more and it costs that much in heavy metal and balancing to get most Eagle cranks balanced. Is this true?

 

We have found Eagle Cranks in the past to need straightening. As a precaution, we have every crank we use checked out and balanced. We have had zero problems with Callies cranks. Bob

 

Tons of people use EAGLE cranks and I haven't heard any problems yet. Also IIRC all the lsx cranks are foriegn made. As well as most everything else you buy for anything

 

We've found Eagle LS1 cranks to require more "attention" to balancing. Callies cranks come in with minimal work needed to balance.

 

I new I could count on you guys for some educated input. Thanks so much. In answer to a question above the machine shop was not trying to sell me a more expensive crank, so that tended to give them a little bit of credibility.
It does sound as if they may have been trying to save themselves a little bit of work as far as balancing though. Also they may not have been aware that the problem is not an issue with LSx cranks due to the hole in the center.

 

That last thing you said is probably their reasoning. They just didn't know about the lsx engine crank.

 

As far as balancing the Eagle crank, my machine shop had no issues with mine. No heavy metal was added.

 

The shop charges a $200.00 flat fee for balancing the assembly so I'm sure they try to guide people toward cranks that require minimal attention.

 

The shop I went to only charged $150 for mine and they did it twice (I changed pistons halfway through the build). Of course they would want to balance the crank requiring the least work - more money in their pocket.

Do some more searching on Eagle cranks. You'd be suprised what you dig up.