Do I use my 427so steel crank?

New to FE world....I have an original steel crank for a 427 so. Is it worth the extra power to swap it for a longer stroked crank or keep my original and use it?

When you refer to original steel....do you mean a forged/steel or are you talking about a cast crank ?

The swap to a stroker crank costs a little more, but is usually worth the cost in added power,not sure how much of a stroke that block will handle without clearancing issues.......

Usually on a engine of that year you will be swaping the pistons/ rods to a different compression ratio......


The more information you provide the better the people here will be able to help.

Hope this helps you get started.

Its a forged steel crank with the press in caps on the counterweight,and the dollar sign on it. The block is a 68 sideoiler that is a fresh .010 over. Don't have any heads, pistons or rods. Wanted to stay away from the original rods and rocker arms from what I've researched. Was gearing towards the blue thunder heads and TD rockers, soild roller system but haven't talked to anyone about it? Just trying to figure out if its worth it to use my crank.

I am no exspert on these engines, but it sounds like you are going to be making some good power from this engine.

The proper thing to do if you wanted to use that crank would be to have it checked for cracks, straightness etc at good machine shop.

Personaly with the money you will be spending and the fact that you are making alot of power, I would shy away from that crank based on it`s age and intended performance level.

Hopefully one of the FE exsperts will see this post and chime in with some advice......

On a side note....if you have the crank checked and it checks ok, I imagine a restorer would probably give you some decent money for it to help offset some of your build costs.

If you just plan on cruzing this engine around in a ride and not drag racing it or beating on it too hard it would probably work fine,but it sounds like you are intending to use it in a high performance application, I would not risk the block or the new heads on it, not to say there is no chance of a new crank breaking also.

Being as you have none of the other parts anyway, you might as well put some stroke to it, it will help make more power at a resonable rpm level, which will make the engine live longer typically.

There are some great FE guys on here that will have some better advice on actuall parts, etc than I could offer.

Hope this helps some.

Thank you for the advice and hope to hear from other people on what they think to. If your gonna do something you do it right the first time.

You don't need the steel crank, but they're nice. Nothing wrong with the rods either.
Heavy stuff but strong. Good to 7000 or so with no problems. A good machine shop
is required for sure. re size rods etc.deck height, line bore and all the good stuff.
If you don't run a big roller stock rockers are fine. My last one had a 680 roller in
it so it had 4130 shafts end stands roller rockers etc. If it's built properly it will
run hard and hold up well.I have friends that can run 9's with the stock stroke.
I wouldn't waste money to stroke it. What are you gonna do with it?

Don't know still undecided??????? Looking at all possibilities.

I would'nt waiste a MR block or crank in a street motor unless is was a nr's
matching classic