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What is the limit for stock 4th gen 5.3 crankshaft and which aftermarket brand crankshaft do you guy's recommend between scat and eagle crankshafts?
I'd buy Summit's own in house brand LS crank vs scat or eagle.
Plenty of folks have made 1,000+ whp with turbo and the stock 4th Gen 5.3 crank. How much over 1,000+ whp do you want?
If it's high rpm NA, I wouldn't use scat or eagle, I'd get a Callies CCW with the extra center weights. Likewise, K1 & Molnar have excellent reputations. Both Callies CompStar's in my two stroker's have been excellent so far.
If it's a ProCharger set up I'd skip the Callies CompStar and similar level cranks because the ProCharger puts lots of stress on the crank snout and sometimes they'll snap ~800 whp. I'd definitely take the Dragon Slayer etc pushing 800+ with ProCharger.
If you're still on the hunt for a crankshaft check out our 4340 forged Pro LS crankshafts. These have been tested to over 1,200 hp in boosted applications. The stock stroke 58X crank would be the SUM-180LS362258X. These do require narrow rod bearings. For the mains, we would recommend Clevite or King performance bearings.
My engine builder finally bent a stock 5.3 crank after about 5 years of abuse over 1400whp in a 4400lb truck. Last year or two was putting out over 1600whp.
I had a stock cast crank with Compstar rods and shelf Wiseco pistons making 1000-1200rwhp for years and spinning 7500rpm+. What finally killed it was showing off.... a 1st to 4th gear burnout (T56 Magnum) showing 140mph on the speedo... moving along at around 70mph and I let off the throttle in gear.... when it hooked up the driveline shock snapped the rod journal as the force transferred from the rear tires forward. It turned off immediately.... and I coasted back to the pits... I didn't see any oil on the ground.... so I quickly started it and heard a horrible noise and then back off. Upon tear down the only thing holding the crank together was #7/8 rod journals. It snapped clean thru where the hole is drilled out back for the pilot bearing!
I had a stock cast crank with Compstar rods and shelf Wiseco pistons making 1000-1200rwhp for years and spinning 7500rpm+. What finally killed it was showing off.... a 1st to 4th gear burnout (T56 Magnum) showing 140mph on the speedo... moving along at around 70mph and I let off the throttle in gear.... when it hooked up the driveline shock snapped the rod journal as the force transferred from the rear tires forward. It turned off immediately.... and I coasted back to the pits... I didn't see any oil on the ground.... so I quickly started it and heard a horrible noise and then back off. Upon tear down the only thing holding the crank together was #7/8 rod journals. It snapped clean thru where the hole is drilled out back for the pilot bearing!
Ouch would be an understatement of the highest order in this case!! Wow....
I have a Callies Compstar crank in my wet sump LS7. Callies Compstar rods, too. I know the stock cast cranks are really good. Obviously, with some of these power ratings being thrown around. The only thing I'd like to add is that a forged crank adds "insurance" in case of several things. One is a missed shift. One thing I don't like about the GM rev limiter is it uses fuel cutoff, rather than ignition cutoff. Ignition cutoff is instantaneous. I had an ignition cutoff setup on a 10,000 rpm Kawasaki drag bike. It was dead nuts accurate, and instantaneous. I once missed a shift in an LS powered car, and even though fuel cutoff was set for 7,100rpm, when your foot is on the floor, when you miss a shift, the rpm hit almost 8k before the fuel cutoff was effective. Wiped out a stock lifter, which also damaged the cam. But the crank and rods had no issues, period. With a cast crank, "good" cast cranks and powdered rods may be fine. But not all castings are equally "good." I know they're higher quality, and more consistent than the Gen1 SBC, but it's still a bit of a crapshoot. I prefer a forged cranks extra strength, just in case. Just my .02
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