quote:

Originally posted by SCDIV1:
I just bought another Callies Magnum direct from them along with pistons and rods, balanced...

Not cheap by any means but All American made and their cranks have always been excellent...

I have used Eagle cranks and rods and they held up fine....Biggest issue with them is finish size is poor....all over the place....

Don't weld on a crank unless it's a shop that does that work properly....with the right heat treatment after the repair....

No crank that was welded on ever held up in the long run done by local shops...

Grinding does require a radius done properly...if not you're also asking for trouble....


When you take apart a BB motor with a good crank with center counterweights the bearings look good usually.....A cheap China made crank, maybe not.....

The more grunt and rpm the more the thing flexes …..

Everything you say here is exactly correct, it demonstrates a high level of hands on practical experience.

In a perfect world the people of modest means would the first to understand, it is the position of people with exceptional means which seek to exploit their modest means, with the lure of a lesser crankshaft not made in the USA. While at the same time destroying American jobs. Destroy American jobs, you destroy American drag racing.

In a perfect world people of modest means wouldn't take the bait (lure) because they'd be the first to understand the stakes.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mike Rietow,

I only had 83 runs on this combination from new and everything looked like you just put it together 4 runs ago. I am going to go with Manley rotating and make it a 582. The little roadster should run some 4.80's to 90's with that combination.

Thanks for the input everyone.

Even made in the USA cranks will break. Callies Magnum crank, 74 runs from new.

Wherever the snout of that crank was going, the rest of it didn’t want to go ! That sucked

I will reiterate one statement from years ago. I hear this stuff all the time "don't race if you can't afford the best stuff".

Unfortunately, if that were the case, most of us would be fishing. Less expensive parts are the ONLY reason I can afford to go race at all.

When I built my 582 BBC, I asked Tracy at Sunset what they use. He recommend the Compustar. I bought it from him. Was never sure if the casting was PRC or Russia, but understood the finish machining was in Ohio. The mains measured a little under, but within GM specs. Turned out to be a fine crank and at $750 a fair price. At 500 runs I took it apart for the first time to upgrade the rods to billet Crower. The rod bearings looked like new. The mains ok but coating was mostly rubbed off. Methanol injection is tuff on mains. Of course this was a 4-3/8 arm, but I think spending a little more to get into a Calies crank will serve you better.

I have 2 Callies Magnum cranks.
One is 4.250 and came from Sunset in 2012 or 2013 along with an unassembled short block....I like to put my stuff together and talked to Tracy about an issue I had and he went way overboard to make it right. A great guy for sure....

That engine has hundreds of runs.... most are S/C runs but at least 50-100 were wide open bracket racing.

It's in good shape. Mains are undersize some and was always small on size on the mains

I sold that crank, rods and pistons...

Bought a new Callies 4.375 Magnum crank with rods and pistons direct from Callies.

Waited 8 weeks to get it. That alone was a bit annoying but it's winter and doesn't really matter...

Put a mic on the crank as soon as I got it home.
Mains are smaller than the old crank.Under the minimum !
I did not want the hassle of sending it back and new I could make it work...
Rod journals are ok.....got by with std bearings.

I bought 4 sets of various bearings for the mains to eventually get where I was happy with the main clearances....

Seemed like nothing I bought ended up where I expected it to.....

King coated bearings.....and Clevite/Calico coated...1set to loose,1 set to tight....Did not want to mix sets..

Partly my fault because I got bearings before I even had the crank.

Clevite/Mahle not coated got me where I wanted to be on main clearance....


I got my own rings and bearings and the balancing was done using weights for a typical set....

I made a choice to spend the money for All American stuff and was disappointed with the sizing on the new crank.....

Hopefully it runs well and stays together and once I make some runs......it'll all be forgotten....

Got a call from my Callie’s contact about this issue.

Social media is powerful !

The sizes are the way they make them and not a mistake.
What I measured was what their spec sheet shows for this crank.

They make them smaller to insure adequate clearance.

My bad for thinking it was a mistake.

I’m happy with what I bought!

Thanks Drew at Callie’s for the call and info update !