Eagle Cast crank.. ouch!

[HaxbySpeed]

I built this motor about 5 years ago for a customer. It was a budget build so he opted for the cast crank. It's a mild 375hp 383 that turns 4800rpm. It doesn't have a ton of hours and of course the customer wants some kind of break on the repairs even though it's five years old.. There is no sign of distress anywhere else in the engine, it is clearly just a chitty casting.. Next time someone wants a cheap motor I'll tell em to buy a crate..

[Chris]

Five years? Is this a prank post?

Five years in a performance boat and God only knows how much sloppy throttle work, etc. He should be offering you a night on the town for a job well done.

[Ratickle]

Tell them you put a request in to Eagle.....

Neither one of my engine builders will assemble an engine with an Eagle cast crank.

[imco offshore]

Tell them you put a request in to Eagle.....

Neither one of my engine builders will assemble an engine with an Eagle cast crank.

if you honor a 5 year old motor warrenty, please put me in line for a big big block lol,,,,

[Tony]

Tell him he needs to break a forged crank in at least 3 pieces before he is worthy of the wall of shame.

[DAREDEVIL]

if you honor a 5 year old motor warrenty, please put me in line for a big big block lol,,,,

HAHA,,me to.

[HaxbySpeed]

I just can't help feeling bad for the guy. I was curious what everyone thought in terms of personal responsibility and I guess I got an answer At least nothing else was damaged..

[HaxbySpeed]

Tell them you put a request in to Eagle.....

I actually did phone Eagle
I don't need to tell you their response..

[Airpacker]

aftermarket performance motor with a warranty? LOL, a five year 100,000 mile powertrain warranty just like GM?

[Dude! Sweet!]

I nearly made your sig my sig a few weeks ago... With the "F*ck community college..." added on.

As for your actual question, I've lost two 10 hour motors over the past couple of years and in both cases the builder's response was basically "that sucks dude". All forged internals. As Airpacker says... Bend Over And Take-it!

[Dude! Sweet!]

I actually did phone Eagle
I don't need to tell you their response..

Was their answer in Engrish?

[Ratickle]

I just can't help feeling bad for the guy. I was curious what everyone thought in terms of personal responsibility and I guess I got an answer At least nothing else was damaged..

Nothing you could have done to stop it. If you cut him any deal, it's because you're a nice guy and he's a really good customer. No one I know would do a thing, except maybe replacement parts at cost, and I wouldn't expect them too..

[Raylar]

As an engine builder we have stood behind a few motors we probably should not have but it was a concious decision to put our reputation in front of our profitabilty. As for five years, that's really stetching it and I don't think that's necessary in this case because the customer appears to have made a concious choice to let his pocketbook override the right crankshaft usage.
Shame on you though for letting a customer tell you how to build an engine! You're supposed to be the expert and last word, don't ever sacrafice the quality and integrity of an engine job just to satisfy and underfunded customers request! Build it Right or just don't build it!
As for the gentleman here who lost two ten hour engines supposedly due to builder bad equipment or errors and the builder told you to Pack IT!
You are using the wrong Builder!
As for marine performance engine builders who have this attitude or this self serving convienent policy, "If the Fires To Hot ( Don't really know what you're do'in, or care about your credibility) Get Out of the Kitchen! "
The Industry and Sport does Not Need YOU! nor can it afford YOU!
If you Screw UP, Take your Medicine and learn how to build better engines!
As for engine users who go out and screw up a perfectly good build with poor usage, service or abuse, don't try and make the engine builder your insurance policy!
Follow break-in instructions, make sure all cooling, lubrication and fuel systems are operating properly before you go out and beat on that new Puppy! Don't blame the engine or its builder for your negligent misuse or problems beyond his control!
Sometimes my comments seem abrubt, but this is serious machinery with a serious cost and loss scenarios. There is no place for P***y Footing on these issues! Our industry must have HONESTY and INTEGRITY!

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

[Dude! Sweet!]

Ray, I'm no gentleman and you've read some things into my comments about those motors that I didn't say. Lots more to the story... As always. I'd be happy to tell you the story over a beer at Bayfair this weekend.

My point was that with race stuff, I don't think that a "front door" warranty is all that uncommon (warranty ends when you walk out the front door). Maybe I'm jaded, but at this point I don't really even expect any more than that. In my mind, the "warranty" is choosing the right guy in the first place and the due diligence you do to figure out if the guy you're thinking about using is actually the right guy.

[DAREDEVIL]

My engine builder always tells me ,,go out and beat it as hard as u can with in the rpm range. ( 7000 RPM )
Eagle crank 4 inch stroke. So far NO problem.
Last year i broke 1,,@ 8000 RPM on the trailer ,,yea on the trailer,my finger got stuck in the linkage. DAMN,,,the sound was crazy though.
Also i think the eagle crank is not bad at all,,its better then the stock 454 cranks from merc.
And yes builder is the one that can make it last or blow up. I learned the $$$$ way.

[Geronimo36]

The only thing I might do if I felt bad was offer to get him a new forged crank at cost and have him pay to put it back together...

[DAREDEVIL]

The only thing I might do if I felt bad was offer to get him a new forged crank at cost and have him pay to put it back together...

Yep,,,,and thats the one i had ,,forged not cast. sorry

[Dude! Sweet!]

My engine builder always tells me ,,go out and beat it as hard as u can with in the rpm range. ( 7000 RPM )
Eagle crank 4 inch stroke. So far NO problem.
Last year i broke 1,,@ 8000 RPM on the trailer ,,yea on the trailer,my finger got stuck in the linkage. DAMN,,,the sound was crazy though.
Also i think the eagle crank is not bad at all,,its better then the stock 454 cranks from merc.
And yes builder is the one that can make it last or blow up. I learned the $$$$ way.

Well, there goes our $10k from America's funniest home videos! Scott, we need to get someone to follow you around with a camera!

[HaxbySpeed]

I'm getting him a forged crank at cost and dropping what's in the shop right now to get him up and running again. There's not much summer left up here! I honestly didn't think there would be a problem with such a low horsepower low RPM application but I think the cast crank is just too brittle to withstand the big RPM spikes and drops that these motors see. It looks like the throw tried to twist right off the front of the crank.

[DAREDEVIL]

Well, there goes our $10k from America's funniest home videos! Scott, we need to get someone to follow you around with a camera!

HAHA,,,your crazy. Damn ,,Andy the guy that was driving that race ,,,twisted his angle on the dock after we broke it completley of and the engine stalled. Ran in to a pontoon boat as well. LOL but NO damage .
He jumped out of the seat to trie to stop the boat but slipped on the dash and fell on the deck ,,,alot of funny stuff going on at races,,if u know which team they hapen to be most ,,,i am defenatley a guy for this $hit.