The Godfather

Oh damn. Ima keep my stuff stock for a while lol.

RenntechE55

so you would Recommend just getting the block? Chris was talking about some little rubber pieces that he found in the oil pan , he told me where they came from but I forgot , I'll have to talk to him again then post where they came from.

RenntechE55

Anyone know of a place to get just a block? I cant find one any where

Marcus Frost

Renntech,

When I say shortblock, I mean assembled shortblock - meaning, crank/rods/pistons/etc. You do not need a long block (for which you should consider yourself lucky, as it adds significant cost). Your shortblock might be just fine aside from a damaged crank, but it also might have all kinds of issues that will cost you a lot more in the long term.

Find yourself a good used short block, and stick that in there. There is no "cheap" solution to a damaged crank, but looking at these numbers if you can land a used 55k shortblock for $4000-$5000 that is a killer deal. I would give the engine you would buy a look over to make sure it's not been sitting outside with water collecting anywhere, making sure it doesn't have any obvious damage, etc. You'd be surprised how junkyards treat engines.

EDIT: Just looked at some links and it's $5000 for a complete engine?! That's almost too cheap to be true IMO... if you can get a complete engine for $5k and just reuse the shortblock you could easily part other things out from it and collect a lot of your investment back. Talk to Chris about this, he will be able to guide you through this process.

-m

skratch77

wait so just a part of the pulley is stuck on the crank?plasma cut that thing off,your going to get a new engine anyway right?Just a thought

Marcus Frost

Man the idea of a plasma cutter hitting an E55 crank just makes me cringe.

skratch77

why,Im sure my mechanic could do it,the engine is getting replaced anyways

mdweiss

pull the motor, leave the gear on the crank, pull the crank out of the block, remove it with a press and heat, then have the damaged end of the crank tig welded and then have it resurfaced on a lathe. a good machine shop can do all of this for you, and ensure that nothing else was damaged on the crank, this is not an uncommon thing in the performance world. and it will not cost you nearly as much as you think.

then you have the option of freshening up the rings when you put it all back together.

AUS-E55

I agree I sent RenntechE55 a PM yesterday stating the same thing.

JustPete

They need to just cut the gear down the center and split it. It's not hard to do.

I find it very hard to believe the key way is twisted. Keys are almost always the noble metal ... 99.999% of the time. The shaft key way may be damaged slightly but I doubt it's unusable or repairable once the gear is off.

mdweiss

yes, cutting it is an option if it cant be pressed. i also find it hard to believe that the key way is damaged. A forged crank vs a junk woodruff key normally ends with the crank winning. but it should be fixable regardless

Marcus Frost

Not saying it can't be done... just saying that plasma cutting an E55 crank to me is like taking a hole saw to an F430's glass engine cover... painful to think about.

-m

Marcus Frost

I disagree. A used motor for $4500 is a much better investment than a questionable crank. If he goes down this path and disassembles the motor to find more damage, he's got a lot invested in labor for naught. Not to mention it's "easy" to talk about a "good" machine shop, but the truth is if I can avoid any 3rd party messing with my motor's assembly, I will. Not to say there aren't shops out there capable, but if you have to ship the motor and all this other nonsense it could take weeks and if something goes wrong then you are really f'd. A used motor comes already assembled from AMG in (assumingly) good running order, much fewer variables.

Pull the old motor, replace it with a new (used) one, pull parts off it that are not compatible as required (oil pan, wire harnesses, etc). You can also sell parts off the current motor and recover some of the cost as well.

-m

mdweiss

an air grinder with cut off wheel, a flat head and 10 mins and its off, i would never think about using a plasma, you cant control depth and all the material your cutting will just get blasted into the crank

mdweiss

once the crank is removed by his shop, you drive to a local shop and drop the crank off.

this is the money doesn't grow on trees option

RenntechE55

Trust me its growing very slow here. I thought about this but then read that when there are crank problems it trickles down to other problems. So i was thinking of buying a engine i found minus the SC , i think I can talk him down to $3000 I hope. Then I can part most of my engine I hope and make most of that money back , so I think thats the real money doesn't grow on trees solution for me. But if he doesnt come down on the price I'm going to look into a machine shop doing work on the crank.

Quadcammer

before you buy any engine, I would have a leakdown test performed and at least pull the pan and valve covers off to check out the internal condition. A used engine is a big risk, especially in accident cars.

I'd probably disassemble and try to repair the crank if necessary. Contrary to the common belief on these forums, this motor is nothing exotic or unusual. A standard zero balance fully counterweighted forged crank is pretty standard in performance V8s. A decent machine shop should easily be able to handle it. The crank is not terribly stressed in a stockish motor anyway.

Marcus Frost

mdweiss,

Go back and read his other posts. Crank bolt spins in the crank now. Rubber in the oil pan. You are suggesting this option without having read the full story. I don't know the full story either, but if you look at the details I think this isn't going to be solved by a simple a cut-and-dry machine the crank solution.

It could be just a machine job, but if it isn't a lot of money is going to be spent for nothing.

-m

JustPete

Yep those were my thoughts exactly. It's the same as splitting a nut thought in this case I'd make 3 centerline cuts at about 4 , 8 and 12 oclock.

mdweiss

I did read that, it would obviously be prudent to check everything else within the motor before spending the money at the machine shop, a stripped crank snout can also be fixed fairly easly. at the end of the day a new motor might be called for, but in my experience its always cheaper to fix what you have than invest in a motor and hope to sell the broken one to make some money back.

oslowley

Sorry to hear the bad news, as I mentioned before I too had problems with my wooodruf key (broken), but thankfully the keyway was undamaged. According to my mechanic one of 2 things can cause this to happen, an improperly balanced pulley or an improper install. I had an oil leak and went in to check the valve cover and engine seals only to hear the devastating news. Hopefully you can resolve this sooner than later because at the rate our cars depreciate......................

Yacht Master

Agree 100% That is why I requested pics of the damage. I know of more than one shop that can fully repair ANY crankshaft.
One shop routinely repairs cranks for MTU 16V396 engines, 3500 HP(that engine cost about $750K)
The repair could have been done by now. One last comment, any tech that would not have suggested this course of action in the first place, may not have the knowledge needed for this situation.

BlackBeast'06

100% agree...since I'm in the same boat because my pulley came off and sheared off my keyway hole as well.

BlackBeast'06

Yes, this is a fact and a lesson learned for all (me included) be certain the person who ever installs any aftermarket parts know what they are doing and have the correct tools to do the install. I'm still paying the price for a bad pulley install. I"m in the same boat as Renntech55

RenntechE55

Yep the pulley is not to be taken lightly........