I'm finally getting ready to built a 355 with the goal of 400 horsepower. In the future the engine will recieve a 150 horse shot of nitrous. Should I invest in a forged steel crank or a nodular iron one?

 

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forged steel, lot stronger and not much chance of crank related failures. i've built and saw several strong engines with iron cranks, but nothing with a power adder.

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ICON Motorsports
1st & 3rd
MM Black Diamond 538 F&AM

 

I know someone that uses stock 400 bottom ends with a 200 shot. Every now and then he coughs one up but not too often. A aftermarket cast crank (actually nodular iron) is more than adaquate in most cases. I think the rods need more attention for nos than anything.

 

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that depends on who you are looking at
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cg...item=592465163
Most forged cranks start at 500+ bucks. Casts start as low as 185. I have never seen a broken crank but seen many failed rods (for various reasons).

http://search.ebaymotors.com/search/...ty=MetaEndSort

The main reason to get a new crank period is not for strength (in my opinion). Stock cranks have sufficent strength. But once you do all the work to them, you could buy a new one for less. And almost all cases, it will have sufficent strength. I would spend the money saved on engine coatings. Much more likely to improve reliablity and output than the crank.

blasted url won't paste. Go to this http://listings.ebaymotors.com/aw/li.../category6770/ url and do a search for chevy crank

[This message has been edited by jcb999 (edited June 20, 2001).]