Crankshaft: stock or Scat?

[MaineShark]

Pretty simple question: should I find myself a stock 400 crank, or spend $200 on a Scat 9000-series (cast) crank? Seems like a no-brainer, given Scat's reputation, but I'm not familiar with their cast cranks. Are they good enough to justify the extra money?

Joe

 

[HammerDown]

Joe, I know your not talking Race Car here...but I honestly don't know anyone that would suggest Scat (scatter) Cranks. Theres much better makes out there for a few $$$ more. The lower end isnt somewhere ya want to guess about parts! I'd ask some machine shops...I bet you'll be surprised what they say.

 

[Jack]

I've got a scat 9000 3.8" cast crank ... know several others w/ scat 9000 3.75" cast cranks ... no scatters in street & street-strip motors. One thing to consider, scat's & others' budget cast cranks often end up with a pretty big balancing bill due to the way the counterweights are too-often hacked up during manufacturing. Other than a possible balancing issue, $200 ain't bad for a new crank. If I were to do it again, I'd probably go with the internally balanced Forged stroker crank at roughly double cast price ... simply because the lower costs of balancing & damper/flexplate would nearly cancel out the added cost of forged ... and I'd have a better (forged) crank. I lucked up ... my machinist quoted me about $125 to balance but ... once he got into it he said he should've charged about $300 due to lots of mallory (heavy) metal used ... he stuck to his quote. We & others are running 3.5" scat forged in late model sportsman & supertruck circle track motors ... no scatters ... lotsa top 3's. An added bonus with an internally balanced 3.75" Forged (scat & others) ... you can run 350 damper & flywheel/flexplate (cheaper) ... and the balancing bill will be less compared to cast. FYI ... any stroker V8 or other hipo V8 should be balanced by machine shop after pre-assembly is completed. Cranks are like everything else ... you get what you pay for.
JACK:gap

 

[VETDRMS]

I'm using the 9000 series 400 crank in my 406... No Worries
It is internally balanced as well.

 

[71roadster]

I too am running a Scat 9000. I decided after more than a year of monitoring forums and asking around with every engine builder I could find. Not one person had anything bad to say about the Scat 9000 series crank, except that they could be expensive to balance, but then so could any crank. Mine balancing expenses were about average. I had never heard until I saw this thread a single negative view of the Scat cranks. I hope that guy is mistaken.

I bought my stroker crank at Flatlander racing and it was really inexpensive. Had it magnafluxed by my builder just to be sure and it was fine. They then balanced it and polshed it

Chris

 

[Jack]

Further info on scat cast 9K

Further info on scat cast 9K. I'm helping some other guys out on their 355ci sbc circle track motor ... was local track champion 2002. Pulled motor Friday nite for freshening ... it has a 3.48" Scat 9000 CAST crank w/ 2 full seasons on it ... routinely sees 6800 rpm ... crank looks great ... needs only a polish on journals ... possibly rebalance for new, lighter rods ... then going right back in. BTW, this motor broke 2 true roller timing chains last season ... due to the crank twist induced by heavy clutch pack & light damper combo ... that says alot about how sturdy the crank is. This motor dynoes right at 370 hp w/ a 2 barrel carb & .480 lift cam. Clutch pack is lighter this season ... but it needs another chain. Barring some folly, it'll race this Friday nite.
JACK:gap

 

[MaineShark]

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Chris: yeah, I saw their prices, too. I had to email them and ask for a price check, because they were like $30 less than the next cheapest. But they said the price was accurate, so I think I know where I'll be getting my crank, if I decide to go with this one.

Probably depends exactly how much cheaper a stock crank is.

Joe