Builders,
If you are the owner of a 2014 conversion manual, below are some short notes on the 1000 – Crankshaft group section. I have written about these details in the last 3 years, but they are presented here in summary form, please update your manuals and notebooks accordingly:
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2017 Commentary:
Three most popular cranks used in engines are 8409 Gen II, the Billet standard stroke, and the billet long stroke. All of these are from the Wesemans at SPA. Very few people take a different route than this, at a typical Corvair College today, all but one or two engines will be built around one of these three cranks. At our finishing schools; (Corvair Finishing School #1, Video report.) Each engine is required to have one of these three crank arrangements, because the fast pace of the work does not allow for the additional time or inspection requirements of using a crank which has not passed through the Weseman’s inspection process before the event.
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1001A – The Wesemans are the only shop I use to process GM cranks. They have been doing them for many years now, and after installing dozens of them at Colleges and in production engines, I can flatly state that they have the best process on 8409 cranks. They are not the cheapest, just the best value.
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1001B – The billet cranks were just getting into high gear in 2014, today they have long since become a very popular proven park. Countless hours of aerobatics have been flown on them, and they are well proven, without a failure of any kind. They are still made in the USA, to the highest standards. The original 2.94″ stock stroke which went into dozens of 3,000 cc Corvairs has now been supplemented with the longer stroke billet crank that goes in the 3.3 Liter engines. Although this sounds new, it is proven and flying, and is a regular production part: 3.3 Liter Corvair, a Smooth Power House.
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1002- no change
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1003- no change
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1004- no change
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1005- no change
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1006- no change
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1007- no change
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1008- no change
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1009- no change
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1010- In the years since 2014, I have built run and inspected several dozen engines using the Clark’s in house brand main engine bearings. This have proven to be the functional equivalent of American name brand bearings. I have used them in sizes std, .010 and .020. They work.
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1011- The commentary on Clark’s main bearings also applies to Clark’s rod bearings.
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Thank you ,
Wewjr.
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I’m just curious if Dan has opened a path to the car guys to use his proprietary products and processes?
You can call them and ask about any specific part, but I am pretty sure they have sold cranks to Corvair car racing people. ww.
Wow more money into a supposedly
Cheaper source of engine choice.
Cont 0-200 or Lyc 0-235 mid time
engine appears better everytime you
improve the Corvair.
Dennis,
My work is based on teaching people to be the master of a very good engine they know well. Judging by how well the billet cranks sell, many people find them an excellent value. Notice that I don’t make any money off cranks, so my perspective is free of profit.
If your goal is to build the cheapest engine, and you don’t care if it comes with zero learning, you are better off buying a used engine and not working with a Corvair because you and I are not working for the same goal if I want make builders the master of their engine and you just want a cheap engine and place no value on learning. If you bought a conversion manual from me thinking my work was about cheap engines , mail it back, I will refund your money.
Please know that as a 25 year aircraft mechanic, the great majority of ‘mid time’ aircraft engines for sale at lower prices are junk, many prop strike engines, lycomings that were run with rusted cams and are now filled with metal, etc. if every $5K ‘ mid time’ aircraft engine was just as good as a $ 25K overhauled one, then try never would have sold a single overhauled one. If a $3500 ‘ mid time’ O-200 was just as good as the $13K engine on my wife’s plane, I would exchange them and pocket the difference, buy reasonable people understand that the overhaul Continental is a better engine to fly behind.
If you are working for five years in your shop to build a plane and fly it 50 or 100 hours, go ahead and gamble on an engine you really know nothing about, maybe it will work. If a builders goal is to learn, master and fly 1000 hours, then he needs something better than an engine that came from barnstormers claiming to be ‘airworthy, even though it has no logs, a bent crank and a rusty cam.
I make a very modest living offering to teach people about engines. If you don’t value that as an opportunity for you, I’m not offended, it everyone did, I’d be wealthier. It is all about personal values.
we.