your best score
- Thread starter pigdoc
- Start date
Back in the late 1980s, there were a lot of big 1960s Chryslers and Imperials coming to a local pick-n-pull junkyard. Totally unsalvagable cars, because of the groty, crumbling rust. At the time, complete core engines were priced at $100 and other engine parts were less. Like, crankshafts for $25. Over the course of a month, I pulled FOUR RB (raised block) forged steel crankshafts out of 413 engines from those land yachts. Same dimensions as a 440 crankshaft, but made of fine forged steel, not cast iron like the stock 440 crankshafts!
Today, the core value on those crankshafts is about $200. I think I still have two or three of them squirreled away. And, on one of those, I got a full set of Max Wedge rods, which I quickly sold for $400.
Strangely, those Max Wedge rods seemed to have been factory-installed in a lowly land yacht...
The disgraceful thing is that, to pull a crankshaft out of a seized Chrysler big block, you have to window the block skirt in a couple of places to get to the rod bolts. Easy to do with a 3 lb hammer. But, of course, it destroys the block. That's not an issue for most MOPAR lovers, because a 413 block is pretty much useless, because you can't bore it out to a decent displacement without hitting water.
But, soon after my foray, the PnP imposed a rule: "If you pull an engine, you gotta buy the whole thing."
<evil grin>
For extra credit, recite how you can tell a forged crankshaft from a cast crankshaft!
-Paul
Today, the core value on those crankshafts is about $200. I think I still have two or three of them squirreled away. And, on one of those, I got a full set of Max Wedge rods, which I quickly sold for $400.
Strangely, those Max Wedge rods seemed to have been factory-installed in a lowly land yacht...
The disgraceful thing is that, to pull a crankshaft out of a seized Chrysler big block, you have to window the block skirt in a couple of places to get to the rod bolts. Easy to do with a 3 lb hammer. But, of course, it destroys the block. That's not an issue for most MOPAR lovers, because a 413 block is pretty much useless, because you can't bore it out to a decent displacement without hitting water.
But, soon after my foray, the PnP imposed a rule: "If you pull an engine, you gotta buy the whole thing."
<evil grin>
For extra credit, recite how you can tell a forged crankshaft from a cast crankshaft!
-Paul
