Anyone here ever used a "Hawks Racing" 393 stroker crankshaft? I saw these on Ebay, and the price is right. They are cast but I wont need a forged one. Opinions?

 

Anyone?



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I've heard Scat makes quality stroker cranks, but nothing on Hawks Racing.

These guys, OTOH...
Hawks Racing Crankshafts? - The National Lightning Owners Club Inc

 

And these guys...
Hawks Racing Stroker Crank? Anyone use it? - Corral Forums

 

Thanks for those links. That throws a Hawk crank out the window...

I guess i'll pay extra and get a Eagle or SCAT.

 

All I can do is hope that I'm lucky enough to have a decent one, because I bought one a while back. Keep in mind a couple of things though, people only raise hell when they have a problem and there are a lot more of these cranks out there than there are people crying about them. The guy putting down the Hawk's crank is an Eagle dealer and sells Scats as well. Were I to do it over again, though, I'd probably spend the extra $ to go with the Eagle or Scat.

 

Let me know it goes with the Hawks crank...

 

It is likely to be a long time before that happens, but I'll tell you this , at the time I bought it, I talked to 2 different people that bought them. One claimed no problems whatsoever, and the other only said that his crank had to be balanced to 50 oz. imbalance instead of 28 oz. As far as shaving down the counterweights, no mention was made if these were the 5.596" rod cranks or the ones for 6.2" rods. I've been told that these cranks required several slugs of Mallory metal to balance, but there are 2 things about that as well. This again came from a Scat dealer, and no mention was made whether this was because the crank failed to balance at the target advertised bobweight, or the components chosen to complete the rotating assembly weren't matched to the target bobweight. So information like that can be manipulated to suit the interests of the poster. The fact is, that unless lightning strikes and the components match the crank exactly, weight is going to have to be added with Mallory metal or subtracted by drilling. Drilling is cheaper, but if the components are heavier than the target bobweight of a crank, weight is going have to be added regardless of who manufactured the crank. After saying all this, there is a lot of negative press out there concerning Hawk's racing cranks so they have their problems for sure. The most common complaint is the inconsistency in their machining and it seems to be a tendency with any China product. One run will be good and the next crap- poor quality control. Most of the derogatory press concerning the Hawks cranks is several years old. I just came across a thread where the discussion was whether to use a Scat or Eagle crank and several machinists and engine builders were ******* the Eagles claiming out of tolerance specs and praising the Scats for being spot on. This was in January of this year. I've heard more than one person calling Eagle "junk". Funny thing is, there is another cheap crank out there- "Ledgend" that I was considering when I bought the Hawks. I can't seem to find any bad press concerning them. Go figure.

 

Doug,
That was a very good analysis you wrote regarding the crankshaft debate. I tend to be very critical of Chinese products, but have to agree that problems with them often is simply a case of poor quality control. I think it was on the Engine Builder (Trade Magazine) website that I read OEM cranks are even coming from China now.

If China does get its act together and produces consistently excellent products, we're really in trouble. What manufacturing we still have will be under even heavier pressure.

Um, I'd be a little leery of a product with the misspelled brand name "Ledgend". Although it could actually be a supper dupper part, if the maker can't spell, can he measure?

 

I'd think of all the places to save money on a stroker kit, crankshaft would be the last place to start.

Of course, I'm also of the opinion the rotating assembly should always be balanced anyway. So theoretically the machine shop should catch any weighting issues.

 

My bad- the correct spelling is Legend, I misspelled it on that post, but not when I researched it, and that is how the manufacturer spells it. Is there anyplace in the rotating assembly that's a good candidate for going cheap? See, I'm trying to build the cheapest motor possible by any means possible -(short of stealing), and longevity is not my highest priority. As pointed out before ,though, the cost at the machine shop to make these budget parts work my well offset the lower initial investment. Considering I only have about $480 in the whole kit, there's some room for machine work $. That really is the only thing holding me back ( cheap machine shop work). I can't build this one too well or I won't have an excuse to start that 460 based stroker!