AUGUST 2020 | ENGINEBUILDERmag.com 37
While there are still machine shops that
provide engine balancing services and balance
all of their builds, the fact is that more engine
shops don’t have this capability, and it is
time-consuming on your end. Why not skip it
altogether and let your supplier do it? You can
still make money from the balancing job, and
you can get all of the same parts you wanted to
order individually as well.
“ ere are not as many machine shops as
there used to be,” says Tom Lieb, president and
CEO of Scat Crankshafts. “And not as many of
them are completely equipped either. at puts
the builder – whether he’s an engine assembler
or whether he’s just a guy building, restoring
his muscle car, building a hot rod, or whatever
he’s doing – at a certain disadvantage. Having
someone supply a complete rotating assembly
takes a lot of work o the builder’s plate and
hands it to me in a box. We ll the box with the
crank, the rods, the pistons, the rings, and the
bearings. Everything is in there. It’s all balanced.
All the builder has to do is wash the parts and
assemble the engine.”
e real advantage, according to Lieb, is that
they carry such an extensive product line. “We
can supply parts for the lowest-budget build
to the highest-end build.” Other suppliers can
also supply pre-balanced rotating assemblies,
but there are a few di erences to what a
manufacturer and a supplier can provide. One
of the biggest is how they balance the parts.
“We supply custom forged cranks, custombillet cranks, and so on. But then we also billet cranks, and so on. But then we also
supply all the di erent connecting rods, and supply all the di erent connecting rods, and
we supply all the di erent pistons,” Lieb notes. we supply all the di erent pistons,” Lieb notes.
“What we’ve done with the rotating assemblies
is we’ve looked at each part and tried to
assemble the most compatible kits, not only
from the standpoint of performance in terms of
horsepower, reliability and so forth, but also the
pocketbook.”
In other words, Leib says there’s no reason
to buy a cast crank and then put in expensive
H-beam rods when you really only need a good
I-beam rod to support the crankshaft. And the
same thing holds true on the piston side.
“We do not manufacture pistons, but we
have relationships with all the dominant piston
manufacturers,” Lieb says. “We’ve accepted the
responsibility of all the components in that box.
When we talk to the customer, the rst thing
we ask is, ‘What’s your project? What’s your
expectation for this project? And what’s your
budget?’ Because what happens, and this is a
bit of a stretch, but we have people that want to
buy a cast crank and then bolt a Procharger on
it. e rst thing that’s going to happen is he’s
going to snap the nose o the crankshaft.”
Lieb explains that getting the initial
expectation from your customer is crucial to
nail down the rotating assembly components
that will be the most compatible with their
application. He says you should always be asking
questions such as, what horsepower range does
he want? What is he going to do with the car?Having someone supply a
complete rotating assembly
takes a lot of work o the
builder’s plate and hands it to
me in a box. We fi ll the box with
the crank, the rods, the pistons,
the rings, and the bearings.
Everything is in there. It’s all
balanced. All the builder has
to do is wash the parts and
assemble the engine.
36-39 eb.aug20 Crankshafts.indd 37 8/7/20 10:02 AM
Naresh Jariwala